Tidal

Submission 5,310

About

Tidal is a subscription-only music streaming service that offers a curated selection of high-fidelity, lossless audio tracks and high definition music videos. Upon its launch in late March 2015, the service garnered much attention from the tech news world due to its ownership by American rapper and entrepreneur Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, though it was met with mixed reception and negative feedback on social media for being overpriced and selective promotion of mainstream artists, such as Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, among others.

History

The service was developed and launched by Swedish-Norwegian public company Aspiro on October 28th, 2014, initially released in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, followed by expansion into Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in early January 2015. Later that same month, Aspiro was acquired by Project Panther Ltd., an investment firm owned by American recording artist Jay-Z, for $56 million.

Relaunch

On March 30th, 2015, Tidal was officially re-launched under new management by Project Panther Ltd. with a press conference in Manhattan, New York City featuring its star-studded line-up of co-owner recording artists: Jay Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, Madonna, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire, Usher, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, Calvin Harris, deadmau5, Jason Aldean and J. Cole. In an exclusive interview with the New York Times, Jay Z billed the service as a platform owned by recording artists, while emphasizing its mission to preserve the importance of music for recording artists.

"The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value. Water is free. Music is $6, but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap -- it's a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist."

Features

Similar to most other digital music streaming platforms, Tidal offers a comparatively large selection of more than 25 million tracks and 75,000 music videos through distribution partnerships with the "Big Three" major record labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, as well as a selection of independent labels.

Exclusive Distribution

In contrast to most of its competing services, Tidal has distributed exclusive audio and video content produced by celebrity recording artists from many different genres, including Rihanna's "Bitch Better Have My Money" and "American Oxygen," Beyonce's music video for her never-heard-before track "Die for You," as well as Daft Punk's 2006 film Electroma, The White Stripes' debut TV appearance and its guitarist Jack White's last concert performance before his semi-retirement. The platform also offers personally curated playlists by a wide range of mainstream artists, including Arcade Fire and Coldplay, in addition to some of the aforementioned artists.

Subscription Model

As an ad-free premium audio-streaming service, Tidal currently offers two monthly subscription programs based on sound quality: Tidal Premium, a $10 (USD) subscription for unlimited streaming of audio tracks in compressed format on par with most other competing platforms, and Tidal HiFi, a $20 subscription for unlimited streaming in high fidelity, lossless audio.

Reception

According to the company, Tidal gained more than 100,000 new subscribers following the relaunch announcement. Shortly after its launch, the mobile app version of the streaming service climbed up to the Top 20 Download Charts for U.S. iPhone users, however, it quickly faded out of the Top 700 within two weeks thereafter.

Criticism

Upon release, the site received mixed to negative reception, saying that although the site will likely lead to the further payment of artists^[4], many writers and independent artists critiqued the lack of difference between audio quality, high price, and overall corporate vibe.^[5] ^[6]