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Jay Z’s Tidal music service makes star-studded splash
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Madonna, Kanye West, Rihanna and Beyoncé are throwing their weight behind Jay Z’s Tidal. Ahead of an announcement later today, various big names are showing support for the Spotify-rivalling music streaming service by turning their Twitter profiles blue.
Together, we can turn the tide and make music history. Start by turning your profile picture blue. #TIDALforALL
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 30, 2015
NAVY, turn the tide…#MakeMusicHistory#TurnitBlue#TIDALforALL
— Rihanna (@rihanna) March 30, 2015
Nicki Minaj, Coldplay and Usher have also joined the co-ordinated Twitter marketing campaign by tweeting the #TIDALforALL hashtag to their fans.
Streaming ahead
- Jay Z splashes out $56 million on Spotify rivals WiMP and Tidal
- Watch out, Spotify, Tidal is upping the ante for streaming-music sound quality
- Streaming music drowns out CD sales in US for the first time
- Design of Apple streaming-music service said to be led by musician Trent Reznor
- PlayStation spins free Spotify on your TV
Tidal launched in the UK and US last year and offers audiophiles high-quality, lossless FLAC music, known as Tidal HiFi, for $19.99, £19.99 or AU$23.99 a month. Tidal also offers a Premium subscription, with standard sound quality playback, for $9.99, £9.99 or AU$11.99 a month.
“99 Problems” and “Empire State of Mind” rapper and business mogul Jay Z — real name Shawn Carter — acquired the service earlier this year when he splashed out $56 million for Swedish company Aspiro, which owns both Tidal and European streaming service WiMP.
Tidal costs twice as much as Spotify each month, and unlike Spotify there is no free option. Up until now its main draw, lossless audio, is an incentive to a fairly niche audience of audiophiles; but the backing of major artists will prove a much bigger draw to most music fans.
As well as support from Jay Z’s mates, Tidal could benefit from a wider dissatisfaction with the way artists are paid in the streaming era. Tidal recently secured a pretty major coup when it became the streaming home for Taylor Swift’s music, yanked from Spotify last year in a row over the royalties paid to artists.
With such big-hitting support behind Tidal, it could be in a strong position when the streaming market is potentially shaken up by Apple’s integration of Beats Music.
The Tidal website is currently displaying a countdown to the announcement to be made by Jay Z in New York today at 5 p.m. ET.
Updated at 10:10 a.m. AEDT: Included Australian pricing and pricing for the standard audio Tidal Premium tier.
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