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TIDAL — Lossless music streaming service, backed by Jay Z
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@rrhoover Obviously not for the users or tech. Probably for the artists with exclusive releases. More ammo against Spotify.
They're also rumored to be blocking Spotify's app updates. The streaming battle is getting ugly 👊🏽 http://www.recode.net/2016/6/30/...
It solves the wrong problem. Period. And it continues to disappoint me that major artists are so blind to where their money is actually going. Spotify isn't the villain, it's your record label. It's the way music is being owned and distributed. So, instead of jumping on stage with a bunch of other high-profile artists to celebrate charging $20/month, how about you take the ownership of your music back, and embrace a distribution platform built for the 21st century.
/rant.
I like the look of this but I'm not going to provide my card details to a new service I'm most likely to forget next month. I'll keep an eye on this one though...
@scrivs it's 320kbps audio + an option for lossless audio for $10 more (only provider in the US right now). There's a small but growing market for music quality. The music video stuff is in addition to that. And compared to Vevo/Youtube - the audio quality is much much better.
@scrivs @kunaalarya The bigger, more addressable market, is the hardcore fans of these artists who will pay for exclusives. Not just exclusive tracks, but early access windowing into albums, videos that are hosted nowhere else, maybe interactive experiences moving forward. To win, Tidal needs to capture the core audience of these artists. Then, they release some cross-promotional tracks or collaborations, and begin to build content entrenchment like HBO has done. It's a bold move by Jay and co, and we'll see how well they can execute on it.
The most interesting parts to me are: giving artists 2x royalties on the hifi version, and offering each key artist "a 3 percent stake in the company in order to secure exclusives".
@alexkehr Call me cruel, but I would love it if albums released on TIDAL break pirating records. It'd be justice for such an ill-conceived idea.
@taykcrane It seems like barriers to legally obtain music will force people to illegally find music if they don't want a TIDAL membership. They should just create their own record company that does a better job negotiating deals on behalf of artists with Spotify, iTunes, etc.
A massive potential, and quite a big start with this whole blue profile pictures campaign on social media. But I feel like while the value prop to artists is rather clear, the one for end users isn't.
"We are looking at the 70s where the artists were the icons. And now the icon elements are the tech companies, that think artists are products. Artists are not products"
- Daft Punk
Is their ownership/equity for smaller artists? I honestly couldn't care less if the people on that stage took back ownership of their music, but I would like to know if the platform is going to help up and comers more than spotify does
I can't find a ton of info on their site, besides that this looks like a streaming service that also provides high quality music videos and editorial content. I'm mainly interested in streaming - can anyone tell me why I should stop paying for Spotify and start paying for this?
@donaldhruska It looks like the main advantage of Tidal over Spotify and others is going to be the exclusives with the big name artists. So if you want to stream any of them you'll have to use Tidal. Rihanna is already streaming her latest song exclusively on Tidal. If you don't listen to them much then you should be fine with Spotify.
@donaldhruska given the intensely personal nature of music, I think only time will tell whether Tidal's exclusive content and partnerships with artists will win out over Spotify at the $10 band. At the $20 band, I've been streaming Tidal for the past half hour and can tell you Tidal is the clear winner for people who can hear the difference.
tl;dr some people will choose Tidal because of Taylor Swift.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/2...
@lambobby Fair enough. Tidal definitely has a strong marketing front with all of the artists on board, but personally I'm so comfortable with Spotify, its selection and its playlist curation that I don't think I'll be making the switch.
@donaldhruska That makes total sense. I think the interesting thing is that from a product perspective Spotify has a decisively better user interface while Tidal has a decisively better audio experience (from a fidelity standpoint). Which of these constitutes a better UX is totally dependent on an individual's priorities. I actually don't think there will be that many "swing" users that have a hard time deciding between Spotify or Tidal (at least while Tidal is relatively new, they've only been in the US since last fall), as your priorities will pretty clearly put you in either one camp or the other.
@donaldhruska @lambobby exclusive clauses of any sort are bad for any industry. Its not like Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Jay Z are living paycheck to paycheck. Sorry for the rant but this all seems rather contrived and ridiculous
Regarding sound quality, for most people , with the kind of internet connections that they have, the kind of listening equipment they have, its hard to tell the difference in sound quality. Yes, they are going to make it all really good for the first few albums. What happens when Jay Z decides this is boring and wants to do his own Meerkat/Periscope(which will of course have Taylor Swift and Madonna exclusively)
To me this looks like it's not so much about music, but about these artists being pissed at Apple, Spotify et al. for taking too big of a slice of their pie. Sort of like "Tech ppl and labels are making money, but we want that instead". And we're supposed to care enough to pay more.
Also the "free trial" demanding credit card? How's that free :D
This really feels like an elaborate April Fools Joke! I am a long term user of Spotify, Pandora and have personally worked at Saavn (India's version of Spotify), the streaming services have done a great job at putting the music out there. The labels on the other hand fleece the artists, the consumers and streaming companies. My respect for Jay Z's intelligence has taken a nosedive since this debacle has started. I am really hoping its an April Fools Joke and we will all have a good laugh tomorrow.
I know that they didn't launch in the best way but I don't get why more people aren't loving their product. They show video and audio (beats Spotify), you can play playlists, individual songs, or whole albums (beats Pandora), and it competes heads up with Apple - just varying portfolio (TIDAL had ALL of Prince's catalogue). Either way, if he sells...I hope it's to Samsung and not Apple...
JD Here,
I have used the product for quite some time, in beta, then after launch, then I dropped it, then the Jay-Z et al partnership, picked it up, used it for a while then dropped it again, then picked it up again with a student discount, then dropped it, and now I'm back on it again.
All in all the product has improved with each subsequent use. The biggest draw by far being the HiFi audio quality. Even on basic equipment like beats or car stereos there is really no comparison between Tidal and competitors in terms of quality. Unfortunately you do sacrifice consistency with the lossless streaming (poor connection = bad user experience), but the value of the product is clear to even the most novice of listeners.
I was worried the Jay-Z connection would weaken the product and fill it up with "content" read: ads. While the latter has happened, they've managed to do a good job of keeping the promo content relevant to artists and strictly on the homepage and in marketing comms. I'd recommend the product to anyone who likes to listen to the same music a lot as they stand to gain the most by listening to lossless quality read: more to hear.
TLDR:
Great streaming quality, Above average UX, Relevant content, Yes some hype but merited.
This is a really great product and the subscribers are treated so well. Ive been to several TIDAL sponsored events and they are top notch.
Pros:Live concerts, sound quality, customer service
Cons:sometimes it lags
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