Chris Martin co-owns new music service, 'Tidal'

Wandering what all the fuss is about with the Cyan coloured backgrounds on Facebook/Twitter? It was all part of the (re)launch for Jay-Z's new streaming service, 'Tidal Hifi'. The new alternative to popular services, such as Spotify wanted to introduce itself with a bang and that certainly happened, with a huge gathering of celebrities, including Coldplay's Chris Martin (via Satellite), Jack White and Kanye West.

To start us off, here are clips of Chris Martin featuring in the pre-launch advert and via satellite at the live event! (Thank you atlas2000)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4K3vMZPACQ

A massive media storm has been created by the wave of celebrities singing up to 'Tidal', rivaling Apple's upcoming streaming service. The reason why they were all so eager to join in? Aside from Chris Martin and other celebs being good friends with rapper, Jay-Z, they all own a share in 'Tidal', making them co-owners of the company! The original launch happened 6 months ago but it was under-stated and Jay-Z will be hoping for bigger things this time round. 'Tidal Hifi' has announced itself as the first artist owned platform for music and video but will it change the music industry and make a lasting impact?

Before we tell you more about the services of 'Tidal Hifi', the clash of interests between Apple and all of the artists involved in Jay-Z's new streaming service may potentially cause a divide between bands/artists. Coldplay, in particular have always had friendly ties with Apple and have seen their friends, U2 and Zane Lowe both sign up with Apple recently. Chris Martin and co have always, in recent times being happy to cross divides and showcase their music across all platforms. There are even rumours of the band signing up to Apple, in the same way U2 have, after their current record deal expires following the release of their next album, A Head Full Of Dreams. It's also worth knowing of Jay-Z's co-venture offer for Apple. The rapper's intentions were not to rival Apple but after the collaboration offer was declined by the corporation's Jimmy Lovine, the two streaming services, the re-designed by Apple 'Beats Music' and 'Tidal Hifi' will go head-to-head rather than side-by-side.

Streaming is increasingly popular, particularly among fans who listen to music on their mobile devices. But what benefits will you get with Tidal's new service? It's major punch is the lossless audio, rather than the standard 320kbps. Coldplay's latest three albums, from Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, through to Ghost Stories will sound very impressive indeed, seeing as they cranked up the production and sound layers in their music, since Brian Eno's arrival to the band's studios in 2008. 'Tidal' can also boast about their very neat presentation and the 'exclusives' the service has promised to offer. Their are two pricing options, at $10 for the standard quality service or $20 for their 'lossless' high quality audio streaming.

Artists/bands, who are available to stream on 'Tidal' will receive a larger % of profits compared to every other streaming service. Jay-Z and co do not possess a large degree of control over the music industry (Yet anyway), as record labels will still have the final say. With a long term strategy though, artists/bands such as Coldplay could be poached from their record labels, after their contract finishes.

'Tidal' has some questionable points too. Their $20 price package in the U.S. is £20 in the UK. You don't have to have an economics degree to work out that the price doesn't fairly translate! The $20 price alone has also begged the question, is double the price worth that increase in audio quality? And, are more exclusives from a different service really what the music industry needs? Music fans end up being excluded and are either forced to pay for it all, tie their loyalties to one service or search for alternative means.

What do you think of Tidal's new streaming service? Let us know on our popular forum thread for the launch. The (re)launch itself has gone down a treat on our forums but fans are generally skeptical on the service itself:

By Black Rose:

Another streaming service, more albums tied up to just one provider on "exclusively" deals. More illegal downloading of said albums by consumers unwilling to pay for 3/4 different services in order to listen to albums.

I wonder what "Tidal"s unique selling point will be over the competition to give it an edge, apart from "exclusive" deals?

Nev72 wrote...

Really don't think they've thought this Tidal thing properly. Here are a few problems I've come up with:

1. Why would people part with $20 a month ($240 a year) for the most expensive service of its kind which is run by a group with a combined wealth running into multiple billions of dollars whilst their main rival Spotify charges half of that? From the outside looking in, it looks like these artists are getting greedy.

2. Why are they short-changing the UK market? They're charging £20 a month in the UK which is the equivalent of $29.50. In other words, this service costs nearly 50% more than it does in America! A yearly subscription therefore costs £240/$355 a year, which is a huge amount of money! Spotify does exactly the same thing as well which I don't get. It doesn't cost any extra to provide the same service in the UK, so why charge significantly more!!!

3. Does the USP of hi-quality music really warrant £10/$10 extra? Not really.

4. I looked at most of the 'owners'' Spotify profiles and all of the ones I looked at had their entire music catalogue on there. You would have at least expected them to take their music off Spotify wouldn't you? Especially Jay-Z.

So, in short, the combined wealth of the owners runs into multiple billions of dollars (IE. They are set for life, and they've set their children and their children, and almost certainly their children as well, up for life so they don't really need any more money), they are charging double the price of their main rivals, where I can still get all of the owners' music, the only USP over Spotify is a higher quality sound and they are also short-changing UK consumers (and probably consumers in many other countries)

Sorry Chris, but just because you're endorsing this, it doesn't mean that I'm going to buy it.

There is still the standard $10/£10 version, but given that this is exactly the same as Spotify, it's going to be tough for them to get subscriptions, even with the superstar endorsements.

Have you tried out 'Tidal'? We would like to hear from you. Please let us know about your Coldplay experience, while using the streaming service.

Coldplay's full purchasable discography is available to stream on 'Tidal Hifi'. You can immediately listen to the wonderful playlist below, which are the songs which inspired the band to form and produce the music we all love! (Pic with hanks to @Coldplayatlas)

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Chris Martin co-owns new music service, 'Tidal'

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