Is the music industry saturated with streaming services? We keep reading how the Spotify model for music streaming isn’t a solvent way to make money as a business and shortchanges musicians daily. Taylor Swift pulled her catalog completely from Spotify. Did Jay-Z reinvent the wheel? The CO-OP of music streaming includes artists: Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Daft Punk, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J Cole, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, Jay Z, Kanye West, Deadmau5, Madonna, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Usher. Let the Music Illuminati chants begin. Where was the jamband contingency? Was Gov’t Mule busy? Subscribers have two options to choose from on a monthly basis: $19.99 high-fidelity audio and $9.99 for standard quality audio. Standard audio is a dismal 96 kb/s with high audio at 1411 kb/s. There’s too many variables, and lots of people are content listening to Pandora for free with those stupid ads. Charging 19.95 for high quality audio with exclusive videos seems pretty steep, considering that the projected target market is in the 18-24 year old range. Do youngsters have that kind of discretionary income to shell out on a monthly basis. Jay-Z is hedging his bets that there’s a niche of audio purists that will willingly spend the price of a twelve pack of craft brew per month on music that is currently being charged at a rate of 9.99 with Spotify. Apple has remained pretty silent with the future of Beats Music.
Props to the marketers of Tidal, because it has remained pretty mysterious and successful with gaining the attention of some of the brightest stars in the music industry. The gathering of all of the owners of Tidal on one stage signing a document was the cherry on the top that most resembled the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Sprint secured the rights as a mobile partner, perhaps granting customers exclusive content according to Variety. Tidal has a contract with all the major record labels and is primed to be a major player with all of the star power.