Jay Z and 15 other superstar artists held a press conference on March 31 to relaunch Tidal, a music streaming service he acquired. Tidal is a music streaming service like Spotify that was launched in October 2014 by a Scandinavian company which was brought by Jay Z for $56 million.
More than 350,000 people tuned into the live stream about the news about Tidal. Alicia Keys made a speech on how Tidal is the first artist owned music and entertainment platform that will create a better experience for artists and fans. Tidal is owned by artists who stream their music through it. Jay Z, Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Calvin Harris, Usher, Chris Martin, Jack White, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Jason Aldean, J Cole, and Alicia Keys went to the event. They are all equity partners of the streaming service. These artists will provide exclusive music through this app.
The big thing about Tidal is if it’s worth the price or not. For $25.99 a month, users get “lossless high fidelity sound quality, high definition music videos, and curated editorial”. Tidal premium is cheaper with a price of $12.99 a month. Users get standard sound quality. Like most streaming services, you get a 30-day free trial. Unfortunately there isn’t free service like Spotify and Pandora. Paying for Tidal will be an investment for music lovers that want better music streaming services.
The launch of Tidal is in response to the music industry’s frustration of not getting a fair share of revenues through free streaming services. According to Billboard, Spotify pays artists $4,700 for every 1 million streams of music. This is an issue that gained popularity when Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify. (T Swift’s music will be on Tidal). Artists will be paid higher rates for their music on Tidal.
Even though Tidal seems confusing and a ripoff, the best thing about the launch was the photos of our favorite artists together. I think many people would sell their soul for the pen the artists signed the Tidal contract with. Can we work for Tidal?