Samsung Jay-Z Collaboration: $20 Million Deal In The Works, Is A Music Streaming Service Coming?

Rapper, record producer and entrepreneur Jay-Z may soon be the new face of Samsung. Recent reports indicate that the hip-hop mogul is in the midst of closing a $20 million deal with the Korean electronics giant.

Sources recently told Page Six that the deal will be finalized in the coming weeks and that it may involve the rapper developing “some kind of new music-streaming service to promote his acts and music on mobile devices.” However, there are currently no details about what the deal involves.

Jay-Z’s latest business move eerily mimics that of wife Beyoncé, who signed a $50 million deal with soft drink conglomerate Pepsi in December 2012. The power couple, now worth more than $1 billion, has clearly built significant empires outside of their careers as performers.

Some of Jay-Z’s other recent ventures include selling his stake in the Brooklyn Nets to establish the talent agency Roc Nation Sports, moving his Roc Nation music label from Sony to Universal, establishing the Made in America music festival in Philadelphia and executive-producing “The Great Gatsby,” among many others.

This deal stands to be particularly lucrative for both Jay-Z and Samsung, especially considering the success other hip-hop artists have had venturing into the electronics market, such as Dr. Dre, who started his own line of headphones called Beats by Dr. Dre.

It will be interesting to see where this collaboration goes, considering that Samsung reportedly spent $11 billion on marketing and $10.6 billion on research and development in 2012 and having increased its marketing presence by 38 percent from 2011. If the company plans on selling between 80 million and 100 million of its flagship Galaxy S4 handsets, a little help from the second-richest man in hip-hop definitely wouldn’t hurt.