Jay Z's company Project Panther Bidco offered $56.1 million in cash for the Swedish company Aspiro that operates the streaming music services WiMP and Tidal, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Jay Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is the latest artist tossing his hat into the digital music arena.

Founded in 2010, WiMP operates across Europe–including in Sweden, Denmark and Norway–and targets audiophiles. It offers two types of service: a basic music-streaming service and a second for $19.99 a month that promises higher-fidelity audio, the price of which is twice more than the basic version of Scandinavian rival Spotify.

Although Spotify's thoughts of Jay Z's acquisition are unknown, the company recently hired Goldman Sachs to head its fundraising as it seeks to raise $500 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Aspiro's other venture, Tidal, launched in October and is a version of the most expensive WiMP HiFi that includes editorial features. Tidal is available in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

It's a tough industry with big players: Sony terminated its unsuccessful Music Unlimited and plans to partner with Spotify to provide music streaming service through PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Earlier this month, AT&T sold subsidiary Cricket's Muve music service to Deezer in a new partnership. In May 2014, Apple acquired Beats Music and Beats Electronics, and through the acquisition has partnered with music moguls Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine to relaunch Beats Music as part of iTunes.

A spokesperson for Jay-Z's S. Carter Enterprises, which controls Panther, said the company plans to increase Aspiro's services and expand worldwide.

WiMP and Tidal subscribers have access to 25 million songs and 75,000 high-definition music videos, while Spotify users have access to more than 30 million tracks.

At the close of September, WiMP had 512,000 subscribers compared to Spotify's 15 million reported in January, according to the Wall Street Journal. Only 20,000 out of 512,000 WiMP subscribers opted to pay for the pricey high-fidelity version.

Aspiro's shareholders have until March 11 to accept Project Panther Bidco's offer.

The New York Times reports that Jay Z is likely buying the music streaming service to expand the media portfolio of Roc Nation, which was started in 2008 as a joint venture with Live Nation Entertainment. The company operates in different sectors of the music industry, including recordings, music publishing and artist management. In 2013, Roc Nation expanded with a sports division to represent top athletes.

Related