Jonny Evans, writing for Computerworld:

Apple already has some big music industry names on its payroll, so perhaps it makes sense for the company to acqui-hire a few more. Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre Trent Reznor, Zane Lowe and all the other former music industry executives and operatives probably want to have a bigger party at the Apple Music backstage bar.

Acquiring Tidal would bring in a whole bunch more big names.

And:

Not only does the music-streaming competitor give artists a huge amount of creative freedom (including allowing them to change tracks once they are released), but leading light, Jay-Z, gave some really big names shares in the company once he took it over.

These shareholders include(d) Arcade Fire, Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Coldplay, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J Cole, Kanye West, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Usher.

This artist friendly status is also why Tidal is able to secure exclusive track releases, such as Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo.

Snarky headline aside, I do think Jonny Evans has something here. Apple has long valued bringing big names into the stable, from U2 to the Beats Electronics team and their investors, from the celebrities who have taken the stage to speak or perform at various Apple keynotes to the famous folks Apple has showcased in iPod, iPhone commercials. Apple’s marketing team has some well honed with experience marketing chops, and a Tidal acquisition makes sense from that point of view.

Marketing aside, Jim Dalrymple said it best:

Apple doesn’t need more celebrities, it needs to fix what it already has.