Tidal Audio Launches Lossless Streaming...

I wonder if the strategy is to get the big name artists (like those that are in the promo video of this relaunch) to go exclusively on Tidal and not be found on any other streaming services... However, a Twitter poll on the Today Show said that 71% would stay with a free Spotify account... One of the hosts said that they didn't care about sound quality, but that it's the music that counts... And that 71% figure is certainly in keeping with that sentiment. If artists try to go exclusive with Tidal, that will risk alienating a sizable chunk of their fan base...

I wish that most artists would self publish their art and remove the record labels from the process...Maybe that is what the ultimate goal is with Tidal.

 

Pity this is not the answer to the devaluation of music. This is essentially just a continuation of the same business model.

 

I understand that Jay Z has already contracted with most of the elementary schools in India to use the students to manually compile playlists for Tidal members who have left Spotify. You gotta hand it to Jay Z , the man knows how to conduct business.

 

Yep, I will definitely stick to Bandcamp supporting local and independent music where the interesting stuff is happening.

 

Could it be that music is devalued because what we are getting these days is for the most part not of good quality?... If the music business wants the music to be properly valued, then they should strive to give us higher quality talent and material... Right now, the music industry (in general) is getting back just about what it is worth... However, I doubt they will step up the quality of talent as a way to increase revenue no matter if it is from downloads, streaming or physical sales.

 

Pono?

 

Thanks for the reply. Just for clarity, does that mean that I should be able to buy an iTunes prepaid card, redeem the card code on iTunes, and delete my card info from the App...and everything should work?

 

If it was Paul McCartney who made the investment in Tidal this Forum would be besides themselves with praise.

 

I just asked our record label about this. It's funny because Jay Z talks about how music is undervalued but Tidal is NOT going to pay the artist more per stream than Youtube or Spotify.

 

My biggest concern with streaming services is that artists will start going exclusive (e.g. Taylor Swift is only on Tidal, Arcade Fire is only on Spotify, U2 is only on Apple's forthcoming service, etc.). People aren't going to want to subscribe to more than one service. I suspect that Spotify will soon add higher quality and/or modify the free model. IIRC initially Spotify was only going to allow 20 hours per month of free streaming but they changed it almost immediately. I think if they were to get rid of free streaming entirely most of the people who listen for free would drop Spotify and never look back.

As for Tidal, I was going to try the free trial period a couple of months ago but was put off by the fact that I still had to enter my payment information. I may still give it a try at this point but I think a lot of people will be deterred from doing so because payment information is required up front. And as far as Tidal's CD quality vs. the lower plan, are current Spotify subscribers going to bother switching if they don't care about the higher quality? Any new streaming service is going to have to offer something that the current ones don't.

As I mentioned, I probably will give Tidal a try but whether or not I switch from Spotify depends on how much of a difference I can hear and if that difference is worth double the price I'm paying now. One thing about Spotify though, when going through my playlist I'm getting a little annoyed at how certain songs on some albums are no longer available or in some cases, entire albums are no longer available.

 

I've no idea if Tidal will allow you to delete your information, but I do believe you can pay for this using an iTunes card.

If the service won't delete your information, you might consider canceling at the end of any free introduction and then subscribing through Apple.

This link (a page in Apple's iTunes App Store) definitely claims you can create subscriptions now as in-app purchases...

Good luck!

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Since they now offer conventional lossy streaming at half the price of the their lossless streaming service, I predict no one will care about the lossless. They may even drop it, no way other services will feel they need to offer it.

 

and we can count with Taylor Sweet catalog! Except 1989 which she wants you to buy physical or digital.

Lossless streaming with DR 6-9, just stupid!

 

Signed up for Tidal yesterday. It's neat... But with the "offline" option, where you can actually download the music to your device (which is really what made me sign up), the files are encrypted -- you can't play them outside of the Tidal app. I found the files on my phone, which have no extension, and tried adding every audio extension I could think of -- flac, m4a, mp4, etc. -- and they still won't play anywhere but the Tidal app. So, in a way, it's sort of like early iTunes, where all the files were copy-protected. You'll never actually "own" any of the music you download with the Tidal offline option. It's lossless, but you can ONLY play it on the Tidal app. You're just renting the music.

 

Well that was expected dude...if you want to own the file you can go to HDtracks!

 

Interesting.

 

Hence the monthly fee. That's how pretty much all the streaming services work. The advantage is the low price for getting access to the entire catalog. The disadvantage is that access is paid for monthly.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Not HD Tracks, Pono... HD Tracks has a meager selection. But there are a few things on Tidal that aren't on Pono yet, so I was disappointed.

 

I'm pretty sure you can download with Qobuz's monthly payment plan. Qobuz is IT, it's the one, it's just the right way to do a lossless music website, as far as I'm concerned. Sadly, they can't seem to launch in the US.

 

Is taking ages for iTunes to launch theirs...i assume is more profiting charging per album and song.

 

My understanding is that the downloads on Qobuz are charged separately from the streaming service. You pay a price per download.

Anybody know for sure?

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

haven't tried it, but see this thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/733233/tidal-lossless-streaming/75

 

I don't understand who they're marketing to with these ads: consumers or artists? If they're going after the artists, it's turning the consumers off. If they're going after consumers, they're doing a piss poor job of it and turning people off the idea by grandstanding the investors.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/au...of-everything-that-s-wrong-with-tidal-1289875

 

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