Tidal was not alone in trying this approach. Later, Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Kanye West’s Life of Pablo, and select others also debuted on Tidal before making it to additional platforms. Jay-Z’s back-catalog was exclusive to Tidal. When it made its launch proper in early 2015, exclusive content included material by Rihanna, The White Stripes, and Daft Punk alongside personally curated playlists from Arcade Fire, Coldplay, and others. Instead, it offered content that was not available on any platforms. Tidal wasn’t going to go cheap - which, to compete with the most affordable options, would mean free. When every streaming music service has the same 60 million tracks, you have two options: go cheap or offer something new. Early on in its lifecycle, it embraced artist exclusives. In exchange for this, Tidal has doubled-down on features. “While no doubt it’s more challenging in terms of reach and getting to broader audiences, from a value perspective and a company vision perspective, it’s very important for us to stand clearly on the side of the value of music,” Tibon said. Prices for its services start at $10 a month and increase to $20 for the highest single user listening tier. Unlike Spotify (although like Apple Music), there is no free tier. Charging a premiumįor one thing, Tidal charges. As well as raising some interesting factoids about the state of streaming music, circa 2020. However, Tidal’s story contains some promising green shoots of both present and potential future success. But to quote Jay-Z again: “If skills sold, truth be told / I’d probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli.” In other words, it’s one thing to be critically praised, but it’s not the same as being commercially successful. Tibon, who joined Tidal in April 2018 from a five-year stint as vice president at Jay-Z’s Roc Nation company, points out that Tidal is frequently reviewed very well. “That in itself creates kind of a momentum, right? In music streaming, it’s less the case because once you have the kind of the core capabilities set up and you pass a certain threshold, you can provide a good product.” Debby Wong/Shutterstock “If you think about retail or e-commerce, Amazon, because of its scale, can deliver things very efficiently and quickly to people’s homes,” Lior Tibon, Tidal’s chief operating officer, told Digital Trends. With Spotify and Apple Music battling it out on the world stage for the souls (and wallets) of streaming music listeners, is there room in the market for a bit-player like Tidal? We think of online shopping, for instance, and we immediately picture Amazon. This makes it more a minnow in a tidal pool than a figurative tidal wave sweeping over all in its path. Certain businesses, particularly online, seem to attract superstar players. An analyst for the research firm Counterpoint Research told Digital Trends that it likely holds a share of less than 5% of overall music subscribers. So what happened? More to the story than thatĪs a private company, Tidal does not publish subscriber numbers. Billboard, in a breathless report published that day, hailed the launch as “historic.” The roster of artist partners, it noted, “features a golden god from each of the most-liked music genres.” They included Usher, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Deadmau5, Kanye West, Jason Aldean, Jack White, Daft Punk, Beyonce, and Win Butler. Oh, and name value? While Tidal doesn’t score close to the name recognition of a Spotify or an Apple Music, you’re far more likely to have heard of its co-owners than you are Daniel Ek or Oliver Schusser, the CEO of Spotify and the chief of Apple Music, respectively.įor starters, there’s none other than Jay-Z, the hip-hop media mogul who once accurately brag-rapped, “I’m not a businessman / I’m a business, man.” When Tidal hosted its first major press conference on March 30, 2015, Jay-Z was joined on stage by more than a dozen major music stars listed as Tidal’s co-owners and stakeholders. LG’s WebOS TVs get a native Apple Music app Lossless Bluetooth audio? Qualcomm says it’s coming in 2022įrom movies to music, 2021 was the year of Dolby Atmos
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |