In 2015, when a group of top artists, led by JAY-Z, purchased TIDAL, a small-but-fierce player in music streaming, it was done with a belief that artists should be paid fairly for their songs, especially considering the outsize importance that music holds in all our lives.
Its new owners ventured that passionate music fans (i.e., you) would take fairness into consideration when deciding to pay to experience music in the highest fidelity available, and for access to expertly curated playlists and live events. But the decision did require a leap of faith on their part.
Their faith was rewarded, and today, TIDAL is upping their game, convinced that, through new product offerings, they’ll be able to enhance the artist-fan experience to where even more music aficionados (i.e., you) will welcome the opportunity to get even closer to the artists you love.
For the past six years, the TIDAL team has been working feverishly to introduce people to their streaming service. They’ve done so by offering a more intimate connection between music enthusiasts and creators through intuitive playlist curation and culturally important content creation, and by hosting memorable live-streamed concerts and events. The large streaming company also has been paying artists a substantially higher per-stream rate than the other streaming services, and treating sound quality as a non-negotiable product feature.
TIDAL has always been comfortable as the home for the audiophiles, the crate diggers and the music nerds.
Tidal is not for everyone, just the people who care more about music than the average fan. (Sound like anyone you know?)
Our subscribers really care about music, are loyal, and they’ve come this far on our journey. We’re hoping that the new stuff we are about to begin rolling out will compel them to continue and to bring their friends along.
Since Tidal was acquired in April by Square, they said their energy has been spent on developing those new product features that deliver on TIDAL’s mission to create a sustainable, artist-first business model for the music industry.
If it sounds as if we’re still out here calling for the music industry to put artists first, we have no issue with that. And if that seems like a lofty goal to you, we agree there, too.
That ethos has been part of Square’s DNA since its 2009 launch, when founders Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey decided that economic empowerment was a central tenet to fairness and justice.
Tidal’s updated offerings include additional and enhanced subscription tiers — including TIDAL’s first-ever free music tier — direct-to-artist payments, fan-centered royalties, and other initiatives.
With support from the vast majority of our record label and distributor partners, we’re making royalty payments more transparent for artists and rights holders, and more empowering for fans.
And by working with payment services Square, Cash App, and PayPal, we’re looking to ensure quick and seamless payouts to artists. We’re also working with leading distributors CD Baby, DistroKid, Equity Distribution, STEM, Symphonic, Tunecore, and Vydia, to ensure artists sharing music through those platforms are also able to seamlessly receive their payments in the same way they always have.
And with all of that cooperation, they are also exposing TIDAL to more music enthusiasts, through a free tier experience. So if you were looking for a chance to put your friends onto TIDAL, this is it.
“We’re building a platform that values art, artists, and culture, and for the first time, opening the platform experience up to a wider group of fans with the free tier,” said Jesse Dorogusker, Head of TIDAL. “TIDAL is giving artists fairer earning terms and quicker payments, and fans are getting a better way to support their favorite artists. These offerings are the first step of many, as we’re excited to collaborate with artists to evolve our tools to help them continue to grow and create on their own terms.”
What do these product updates mean to you, the subscriber? You will still have access to all the same top-shelf music and content but, if you are a member of our TIDAL HiFi Plus tier, you’ll gain first access to exclusive content, experiences and special offers, in addition to the product features that are still on our drawing board. And TIDAL will earmark a portion of your subscription fee for the artists you love.
What will these updates mean to the artistic community? That their members will finally get paid fairly (and quickly) for their life’s work. And that their devoted fan base can reward them directly for all those priceless memories.
Tidal goes on to say…
these product updates are placing us at the beginning of a journey to bring artists and fans closer together. And we can’t wait to help that along.
“I said from the beginning that TIDAL was about more than just streaming music,”
JAY-Z tweeted after the deal was announced,
“and six years later, it has remained a platform that supports artists at every point in their careers. Artists deserve better tools to assist them in their creative journey.”
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