Will Tidal Replace Spotify?
The Tidal logo courtesy of Tidal.
April 21, 2015
Last month at a splashy press conference in New York City, Jay Z, surrounded by nearly every other major musician in popular music, launched his newly-revamped music streaming service Tidal.
Tidal places itself in direct competition with Spotify, the market-dominating music company that has become the gold standard among music streaming services.
Jay Z’s goal with Tidal is to allow artists, not huge companies (like Spotify and Rdio), to control their own music and to offer hifi sound to a new generation of listeners, even if they can’t tell the difference. The idea is, according to Jay Z himself, supposed to revolutionize the music industry.
Tidal, though, needs more than just exclusive content and hifi streaming to beat its competitors.
As more competition joins the mix, Spotify has the advantage of being nearly ubiquitous. Other services, like the forthcoming Apple and Google streaming platforms, are going to crowd the market soon, so Tidal only has a limited amount of time to find a profitable place among the crowd.
The problem with Tidal is that young people, the most important graphic demographic of music streaming, don’t want to pay for music. At $20 per month for premium sound and content, Tidal will be swept away by cheaper and more popular services.
For an extra $10 each month, Tidal just isn’t enticing enough to the majority of the market. When consumers can have Spotify for free (albeit with ads), $20 is just too much to pay.
The redeeming factor of Tidal, though, is its celebrity backings. Major stars like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, Madonna, Chris Martin, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk, and Alicia Keys are all shareholders. Many of them have exclusive content on the new streaming service, most notably Rihanna with a group of new singles only available through Tidal.
To survive, Tidal needs to lower its prices and make more of an effort to take down Spotify, whether through more intensive advertising or endorsements. It’s an uphill battle to bring artists back into making money off of their music. For now, though, don’t switch to Tidal just yet.
