TIDAL hires fourth CEO in two-and-a-half years

After losing its third CEO in just two years in May, Jay Z’s streaming service Tidal has made its fourth hire in the lead role.

As first reported by Variety, long-time Sony Music executive and former president of Kobalt Music Group, Richard Sanders, will head the struggling streaming rival.

Tidal's last CEO Jeff Toig exited in March, ending a 14-month stint at the company. Toig took over from interim executive Peter Tonstad, who famously replaced Tidal’s original CEO Andy Chen, when the company was still finding its feet.

However, with a storied music industry figure at the head of the table - and with the reported US$200 million cash injection from mobile carrier Sprint - the tides may soon turn in Tidal's favour.

It has a long way to go though. While Tidal has attracted a combined 4 million trial users and subscribers (according to MIDiA’s estimates), Spotify has added 10 million paid users in less than half a year, at a rate of about 2 million a month.

Meanwhile, Apple Music boasted 27 million subscribers (with an undisclosed number of free trial users) as of June - exactly two years after Apple launched its streaming music ambitions.