This possibility has prompted artists to put exclusive material on the service to encourage consumers to join. A rising tide lifts all boats-large-scale adoption of a subscription-only platform would likely increase per-stream royalties dramatically. If the service becomes successful enough, it could very well push the music industry in a new direction. The acquisition, though, is intended to be more than just Jay Z’s attempt to enter the streaming market. Thus far, Tidal can claim nearly six hundred thousand paid subscribers, which, as a matter of fact, pales in comparison to Spotify’s fifteen million and Deezer’s six million. #TIDALforALL trended on social media and the attending celebrities changed their avatars to a bright cyan-blue in support (see the picture above). The launch of Tidal, on March 30th, was accompanied by a live feed video that featured the artist stakeholders themselves coming together in New York. 3 Whether or not the hi-fi option will make a difference to consumers is an open question, but the service has seen support from celebrity stakeholders Beyoncé, Madonna, Kanye West, Arcade Fire, Deadmau5, Jack White, and others: their music appeals to a broad base of fans and cover the majority of today’s popular genres. 2 It is available in thirty-one countries across Europe, North America, and Southern Africa and in the coming months is expected to be available in Poland, Australia, Hong Kong, Qatar, U.A.E., and Germany.
This is a subscription only ad-free service with a $9.99 per month plan of Spotify type audio quality (320 kbps) and a $19.99 per month premium tier of high-fidelity audio and video streaming (1,411 kbps). The new Tidal apparently offers a catalog of over twenty-five million songs, seventy-five thousand music videos, and an arsenal of editorials and interviews by established music journalists. The two services are now operating under the name Tidal after Jay Z bought their Norwegian parent company Aspiro for $56.2 million. Before celebrity hip-hop mogul and businessman Jay Z came along, WiMP and Tidal hardly made an impact on music streaming.