Hip hop superstar Jay-Z's often maligned music streaming service Tidal doubled its losses last year as it dug deep to try to establish a foothold in the increasingly competitive battle for ear buds.

The Wall St Journal reports that the company recorded a loss of 239 million Swedish kronor (€25million) - up from 88.9 million kronor in 2014.

Its revenue did increase by 30% - but the service is failing to keep pace with market leader Spotify and Apple Music which has the benefit of the Californian company's deep pockets.

The 'artist-owned' app has one trump card - access to exclusive streams from a number of iconic musicians.

Beyonce and Chicago rapper/producer Kanye West are part owners of the service and both released their latest albums exclusively through Tidal.

Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve.

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016

With Apple still trailing Spotify - there have been reports that it is considering buying Tidal - a move which would reduce the competition that Apple Music faces and possibly secure control of Tidal's exclusive releases.

Kanye West issued a stream of tweets in July which called on Apple to buy Tidal - it's unclear whether he knows something that we don't - or if this was a case of wishful thinking.

This would up the pressure on Spotify, which has already missed out on a number of landmark releases in 2016 - including music from Radiohead, Frank Ocean, and Chance the Rapper.

A statement from Tidal's parent company Aspiro said, "The board believes the company will be able to secure new financing."