Apple may be interested in buying Tidal

Apple is reportedly in talks to buy Tidal — the music-streaming service run by rapper Jay Z — as its Apple Music app escalates a nasty battle against Spotify.

The tech giant is interested in Tidal’s strong ties to big-name artists like Kanye West and Madonna, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

The talks are “exploratory,” ongoing and may not result in a deal, according to the paper. Terms under discussion couldn’t be learned.

After buying Tidal for $56 million in March 2015, Jay Z corralled a who’s who of top artists to supply exclusive content, including wife Beyoncé, Rihanna, Prince, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys and Daft Punk.

Jay Z has given small ownership stakes in Tidal to these artists while promising them millions of dollars in marketing in a bid to expand the service, according to sources.

A Tidal’s spokesman denied talks between Apple and Tidal execs.

The report comes as Apple Music ramps up a fierce battle against the music-streaming leader Spotify.

In a testy letter to Apple that it distributed on Capitol Hill earlier this week, Spotify accused Apple of blocking a new version of its app, calling it an “anticompetitive” move.

Apple is “causing grave harm to Spotify and its customers” by recently rejecting an update to Spotify’s iOS mobile app, Spotify’s legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, griped in the letter this week to Apple’s head lawyer, Bruce Sewell.

Last year, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook launched Apple Music after buying Beats, the headphone maker and music streamer co-founded by Dr. Dre, for $3 billion.

Apple Music has since suffered hiccups, recently revamping after users complained of an overly complicated interface.

Still, Apple Music said last month it now has 15 million paying subscribers, boosted by its automatic installation on hundreds of millions of iPhones.

Spotify, launched in 2008, said in March it has 30 million paying subscribers.

Spotify has distributed its June 26 letter to some Congressional staff in Washington, DC, the tech blog Recode reported Thursday.

A day earlier, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) charged in a speech that Apple “has long used its control of iOS to squash competition in music.”

Spotify declined to comment Thursday, and reps for Warren didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on her communications with Spotify.

Apple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Apple is allegedly blocking Spotify’s latest app update after Spotify began dangling discounts for new subscribers to sign up for its $10-a-month service through Spotify’s site rather than through Apple’s iTunes billing system, which charges apps such as Spotify 30 percent of revenues.

This month, Apple threatened to remove Spotify’s app from its App Store unless Spotify stopped offering a deal to new subscribers for three months at 99 cents, according to Spotify’s lawyers.