Rapper Jay Z’s high-fidelity music streaming service Tidal has relaunched with the backing of a number of high-profile musicians, looking to carve out a greater niche in the highly competitive streaming market.As reported by The Wall Street Journal, at a media event in the US on Monday, Jay Z was joined on stage by more than a dozen fellow equity owners, including Beyonce, Kanye West and Madonna.
Tidal, which clearly has a hefty dose of star power on its side, will be taking on the likes of Spotify and Pandora, offering lossless high-fidelity music streaming, featuring a library of 25 million tracks and 75,000 music videos, along with editorial content.
Tidal is currently live in a total of 31 countries and is preparing to launch in an additional six, including Australia, before the end of the 2015 second quarter. In the US, the service carries a price tag of US$19.99 per month for lossless high-fidelity sound quality and US$9.99 for standard sound quality.
The relaunch came on the back of social media-generated hype, with Jay Z tweeting “‘The Tides They Are-A Changing’ #TIDALforALL”, with Jay Z and a number of other musicians turning their Twitter profiles a shade of blue.
“Our goal is simple: we want to create a better service and a better experience for both fans and artists,” Bloomberg reported Alicia Keys as stating.
“Our mission goes beyond commerce, it goes beyond technology. Our intent is to preserve music’s importance in our lives.”
Jay Z is pursuing exclusive deals with artists, according to senior record-label executives with knowledge of the discussions, Bloomberg reported.
Tidal will now also be available on Sonos, with Sonos announcing its addition.
“Artists are more in tune than ever with how people are listening to their music,” Sonos CEO John MacFarlane commented. “That changes the game – Tidal represents the future of music.”
