Tidal makes waves
By: Caitlin Moynihan, Columnist
Just imagine, it’s summer and you’re hanging out with all your friends at the park and everyone is in the mood to listen to Beyoncé. As you scroll through your Spotify playlist, you shriek out in horror as you realize that all your songs are gone. No more Beyoncé, Rihanna or Nicki Minaj, and your Spotify playlist is practically empty. Terrifying, isn’t it? Unfortunately, this nightmare could eventually be our reality with the recent release of Tidal, the new online music streaming service.
Tidal is owned by all the top tier celebs like Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Usher, Chris Martin and more with the goal to change the music industry forever. You may be thinking how yet another music streaming service could have such a large impact, and you would be correct in feeling apprehensive. The biggest difference is that Tidal doesn’t offer a free version, cue college students everywhere to begin to cry. Tidal has different packages and the cheapest standard version is $9.99 a month.
My bank account is already mad at me and I haven’t even signed up yet. In a recent press conference, Jay-Z explained that the reason behind this is to be able to better compensate artists and to challenge the way Spotify pays its contributors. This has obviously sparked controversy on why we, the broke and sad students of the world, would be paying the owners of Tidal, who are millionaires, so the artists, who also happen to be the owners, will get even more money. Confusing, isn’t it?
Tidal’s original tagline is #TidalForAll, but by forcing the subscribers to pay it’s alienating hundreds of potential fans. Jay-Z also states that Tidal is all “about the future of the music business” and that he hopes it will encourage artists to “break the format” in which music is created and distributed. Tidal has millions of dollars, and millions of fans for that matter, supporting and encouraging its growth. This is why I am spending as much time on Spotify as I can before it’s gone for good. I don’t believe that it will become a standoff between the two, but with artists demanding more rights to their music and creativity, and with huge stars like Taylor Swift taking the plunge into ownership, I think the scary future may arrive sooner than we would like. So friends, listen to your Spotify and download those songs fast, because soon we will all be reverting back to middle school and listening to all of our songs on YouTube. Unless you want to add at least $120 to your yearly bills.
