Jay Z along with some of the biggest artists in music made waves on Monday with the announcement of TIDAL, the first-ever artist owned streaming service.
"We come to you with one voice in unity," artist Alicia Keys said during the live event. "The first ever artist owned global music and entertainment platform!"
The event brought together likes of Kanye West, Daft Punk and Madonna along with a ton of hype.
For example, a clock on the service's site was counting down to the live streamed event, and the rapper's entertainment company, Roc Nation, tweeted Saturday about a "special announcement."
It also came with many of the same artists turning their Twitter avatars blue to bring attention to Jay Z's streaming service.
"Together, we can turn the tide and make music history," West tweeted. "Start by turning your profile picture blue. #TIDALforALL"
The event brought together likes of Kanye West, Daft Punk and Madonna along with a ton of hype.
For example, a clock on the service's site was counting down to the live streamed event, and the rapper's entertainment company, Roc Nation, tweeted Saturday about a "special announcement."
It also came with many of the same artists turning their Twitter avatars blue to bring attention to Jay Z's streaming service.
"Together, we can turn the tide and make music history," West tweeted. "Start by turning your profile picture blue. #TIDALforALL"
As for the service itself, TIDAL is a subscription-based music service offering high quality music and sound.
This differs from other streaming music providers, such as Spotify, that offer both premium and free, ad-based options.
"This is a platform that's owned by artists," Jay Z said in an interview to the New York Times. "We are treating these people that really care about the music with the utmost respect."
Spotify: Taylor Swift is wrong about us The argument over artist compensation and music streaming has been a large point of contention.
It was one of the reasons one of the music industry's most popular artists, Taylor Swift, said she pulled her music from Spotify in November.
Swift's catalog (with the exception of her latest smash album "1989") has been streaming on TIDAL since Tuesday morning.
This differs from other streaming music providers, such as Spotify, that offer both premium and free, ad-based options.
"This is a platform that's owned by artists," Jay Z said in an interview to the New York Times. "We are treating these people that really care about the music with the utmost respect."
Spotify: Taylor Swift is wrong about us The argument over artist compensation and music streaming has been a large point of contention.
It was one of the reasons one of the music industry's most popular artists, Taylor Swift, said she pulled her music from Spotify in November.
Swift's catalog (with the exception of her latest smash album "1989") has been streaming on TIDAL since Tuesday morning.
As it stands now, Tidal costs $19.99 per month. That’s a higher pricepoint than competitors: In addition to some free options, services like Spotify, Beats Music, Rhapsody and Rdio offer mobile streaming for $9.99 monthly.
So, Jay, what gives?
Ahead of this evening’s announcement, we put together a little something that doubles as a wish list and what could help give Tidal a leg up on the field. Hopefully a few of these come true.
So, Jay, what gives?
Ahead of this evening’s announcement, we put together a little something that doubles as a wish list and what could help give Tidal a leg up on the field. Hopefully a few of these come true.
- Launch With A New Rihanna Album When news of Jay’s press conference circulated early this morning, a rumored circulated that Rih’s new album might hit the app today. The singer denied the report on Twitter — but, hey, maybe she’s just trying to persevere the surprise if she can. This will be her first album solely on Hov’s label, Roc Nation, rather than Def Jam, so why not drop it with a bang? She’s got fans buzzing after her single “Bitch Better Have My Money” dropped last week, and with an almost two-and-a-half year gap since her last album, the world is certainly ready for more.
- Announce A New Jay Z Album Getty Images Thanks to his partnership with Samsung, Jigga’s last album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, was delivered in a new and unexpected way. Why wouldn’t he again take a road less traveled for his next project? We haven’t heard anything about it (minus voices in our head), but Jay moves in silence, so it doesn’t mean a new project isn’t in the works.
- Deliver New 2Pac Music To The World Getty Images In the years immediately following his death, we got a steady stream of new music from the late Pac. But that hasn’t happened in some time. In fact, seven albums have been released since his death (including The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, just months after his death) — but none since 2006. Last week, a rumor that Jay and Roc Nation bought Pac’s catalog for $384 million hit the ‘net, but Billboard reported that Roc denied the report. Still, if Hov somehow found a way to bring us new Pac music, well, that would be OK.
- Include Taylor Swift’s 1989 Getty Images Taylor’s latest album is notably absent from streaming services like Spotify. But if Hov could secure the rights to 1989? That would be quite a win (currently, the album appears on the app, but you can’t actually listen to it).
- An Actual Better Sound Getty Images According to The New York Times, Tidal offers “lossless audio formats,” which means that it’s supposedly higher quality than services like Spotify. Tidal, on its website, calls itself “high fidelity music streaming.” If there was a noticeable difference in sound quality, maybe that would be worth the price hike.
Secure Exclusive Deals With Artists Like Beyoncé This one could really tilt the scales. If artists agreed to only stream their music on Tidal, and remove their catalogs from competing platforms, then consumers would be forced to make a tough choice, and the higher price could prove not only worth it, but necessary. And imagine if he got all the artists that tweeted/showed up in the above commercial? That’s Bey, Kanye, Nicki, Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Madonna, Diddy, Usher, Daft Punk and plenty more. Whoa.
sources: money.cnn.com, mtv.com
Adam Fleischer
sources: money.cnn.com, mtv.com
Adam Fleischer
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