3 reasons why Jay Z's new Tidal streaming service is stupid

1. This whole ‘high quality audio’ thing overestimates the average listener

For one thing, the average person that listens to music in the car on their commute or in their stock Apple earbuds cannot hear and does not care about the difference between 256 Kpbs (standard iTunes quality), 320 Kpbs (high quality) and 1411 Kpbs lossless or FLAC audio files (astronomically high quality).

2. The Tidal model doesn’t seem scalable

Spotify pretty much stiffs its artists and they still don’t make any money. Tidal’s business plan is different, but it’s hard to see how it’ll hold water.

3. Why would anybody pay $20 for this?

We can make our own playlists. The only draw to Tidal is the higher quality audio, and it’s not even really that big of a draw. That higher quality audio is only available at the $20 price point which is just ridiculous. That’s what a lot of us pay for Spotify and Netflix combined each month.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/3-re...vice-is-stupid

Hmm, all I see are some very valid points made by USA Today.

It does overestimate the conscious/finances of the average person.

I think what'll draw people to it in the end are the exclusive releases.

I agree, but imagine the Tidal folks are expecting:

1. The tidal user just needs to think he can tell a difference. Most don't know it's in their head.

3. See 1, and tidal is currently selling hype. Revolution, world change, social cause cyan, etc. It's not hard to imagine why someone would get sucked in.

There are a bunch of reasons why Tidal is flawed.

Where is the business plan?

it sucks big butt lol

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#Tidal vs Spotify. Same 1 song played over LTE. Note the data usage.

the backfire already!

You can also get a $10 account, right?

The only problem I have with TIDAL is that songs don't load that quickly. It's kinda slow... We'll see how that evolves.

Umm, okay...

1. It does but so does other high quality everything. Not many people can tell the difference between LED vs Plasma, 720p vs 1140p etc.

2. What? Obviously Tidal is scalable. The more listeners and artists who join the platform the larger the scale will be, which will happen.


3. People who have high quality sound systems or who are involved in the music industry e.g. sound engineers will pay for this. And the average consumer who likes paying for pricier luxury products.

Obviously something that offers better quality products will cost more. You expect to pay the same amount for LOSSLESS quality as you pay for 320kpbs?

The price is $9.99 for music quality equivalent with Spotify Premium.

I don't get the price dragging. $20 a month is optional. Otherwise, you're paying the same as Spotify for standard quality and extra features such as videos if you're interested. Also, Tidal is brand new. Why are people saying "It won't last lol flop"? It's too soon to tell, but I think with all of the celebrity support, it has a good chance of making it.

My only complaint is how terrible the tags are on albums/songs. For example:

Spotify: Rihanna - Phresh Out The Runway (from "Talk That Talk")
Tidal: Rihanna - Phresh Out The Runway - Album Version (Explicit) (from "Talk That Talk (Deluxe Explicit Version)")

Am not trying to **** my scrobbles up with messy tidals. But I'll still use it.

The fact that artists have more if not total control over their art through this platform rather than big capitalist corporations should be enough of an incentive.

wow

^That's why you stream it OFFLINE.

I want to point out, that most of the music is processed, so there is not much difference between 256 to 1411 kpbs.