Aspiro AB was a Norwegian-based, legally Swedish-domiciled

technology company A technology company (or tech company) is a company that focuses primarily on the manufacturing, support, research and development of—most commonly computing, telecommunication and consumer electronics–based—technology-intensive products and ...

founded in 1998. The company mainly provided subscription-based lossless music streaming services under its two brands, Tidal and WiMP. The company was headquartered in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, with additional offices in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. As of the end of December 2014, Aspiro's music streaming services had 500,000 paying customers.

History

Aspiro AB was founded in 1998 by Jörgen Adolfsson, Christer Månsson, and Klas Hallqvist, who were colleagues in the mobile phone industry, initially at the Swedish mobile phone company Europolitan. The three founded Aspiro after observing the impact of the

Wireless Application Protocol Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an obsolete technical standard for accessing information over a mobile cellular network. Introduced in 1999, WAP allowed users with compatible mobile devices to browse content such as news, weather and sp ...

on mobile communication while they were working at Telenor Mobil's Value-Creating Services division in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. The company originally focused on many different mobile technologies not limited to music streaming. The company made its initial public offering on the

Stockholm Stock Exchange Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange (), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As of March 2021, a total ...

's New Market in May 2000 and later began trading on the main market in June 2001. In 2009, the company developed its first music streaming service, which eventually became its core business. In January 2015, Aspiro received a $56 million takeover bid from Project Panther Bidco Ltd., a company indirectly owned by rapper and businessman

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

. Despite some opposition from minority shareholders who believed the bid undervalued Aspiro's growth potential, the acquisition was accepted by over 90 percent of the shareholders and was finalized in March 2015. Subsequently, the music streaming services WiMP and Tidal merged under the Tidal name.

References

External links

* {{url, aspiro.com, Official website Jay-Z Online music stores of Norway