The Fight Between Tidal, Spotify & Apple Music Could Lead To Industry Wide Change

 
Previously on “One Percent,” Spotify became one focal point in discussing the new generation of music consumption. There’s no doubt streaming is the future as the Sweden-based giant has crowned itself king with over 60 million active users. Consumers were in love with the service’s intuitive interface and ability to enjoy millions of songs without a hassle. Artists ranging from Taylor Swift to Aloe Black had major issues with compensation calling the distribution of funds unfair. The conversation essentially turned Spotify into an evil industry empire hurting music creators all around. Didn’t matter much, the company still grew on both free and subscriber ends. Then March 30, 2015 arrived. Following the acquisition of Aspiro earlier in the year, Jay Z holds one helluva press conference for a relaunch of the Norway-based media technology company Tidal. Some of the music industry’s biggest artists from Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Chris Martin and Usher, among others, took a stand against Spotify’s perceived robbery. No matter how rich and luxurious their lives were to the buying public, the company represented by one lime colored circle with three curved stripes was muddying the money. To some, Tidal represented artists taking control of their business within the digital age. For others, the press conference represented one large circle jerk. Could the service backed by some of the music’s biggest stars catch up to Spotify’s four-year lead so soon? Laptop Mag senior staff writer Sherri Smith said reception had much to do with circumstances and not the actual products themselves. “You have some of the world's most popular artists coming together to make some sort of statement about the state of music distribution, which came off as earnest at best or pretentious at worst,” said Smith. “Spotify, when it launched, just wanted to let subscribers listen to their favorite music and hopefully discover some new jams along the way.” How do both services fair themselves? Right now, the favor depends on what side of the music industry one falls under.

Tidal set itself apart by being a subscription-based service starting at $9.99 and $20 for its Hi-Fi plan. This is in opposition to Spotify’s free ad-based offering and premium ten buck offering. At its lower level $9.99, Tidal offers exclusive music, videos, and even artist editorials among others. Within the last several weeks, Hov, Daft Punk, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj all dropped exclusive content on the service. Just last weekend, Tidal even exclusively held a live stream of Hot 97’s Summer Jam concert. Of course, those were eventually available for free through various torrents, YouTube pages and media hosting sites easily. This is where the higher Hi-Fi plan comes in handy. Advertising the quintessential music listening experience, Tidal offers CD-quality music at 1411kbps, 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC and ALAC music streams which audiophiles will love but, most won’t notice outside of bragging rights according to Zion I’s Amp Live. “If you have a good expensive pair of headphones and you really pay attention you will probably hear a difference,” Amp Live said. “But the average person doesn’t have expensive headphones and really just wants to hear that song they like, regardless of it being good or better quality.” Smith also adds that most audio enthusiast already have pricey amps, pre-amps, and DACs but adds some additions have improved the overall experience. “The new desktop app is a step in the right direction as is the discount plan aimed at students,” Smith said. “Another smart move on Tidal's part is allowing users to purchase concert tickets from within the app, a feature Spotify has eliminated from its service. The service can potentially cut itself a bigger piece of the pie if it offers exclusive merchandise in addition to concert and festival tickets.” With 540,000 subscribers and growing, Spotify must be feeling some pressure. During their press conference in May, the streaming leader announced its own introduction of video content from major networks including MTV, YouTube and ESPN along in addition to the podcast. Artists wise, Spotify pays between $0.00225 - $0.0025 cents per stream while Tidal reportedly offers $0.024 - 0.028 cents.