Arcade Fire Frontman Says Tidal's Launch Was 'Poorly Managed,' Slams 'Clueless' Major Labels
Tidal investor Win Butler of Arcade Fire has admitted that the streaming service's launch was "poorly managed" but lays the blame for the company's struggles at the feet of "clueless" major labels.
In an interview with The Independent, the frontman accepts that the star-studded launch of Tidal — which he attended with wife and bandmate Régine Chassagne — was not effective. "None of the artists knew anything about the PR," he said. "It was a poorly managed launch, but conceptually the thing that we liked about Tidal was that it's HD streaming quality."
"They dictated that Tidal has to cost $20," Butler said of the big labels.
He added, ”the major label music industry has completely ruined every aspect of their business. At every step of the way they've had the tools offered to them to create an industry that works, and they've completely blown it. That's why we never had any interest in signing a contract with one of these companies because they're clearly completely clueless."
This is what I suspected. Major label or not they seem pretty out of touch with things. They relied on hype and celebrity status instead of putting across a message that they were a quality streaming service.
They should realise the average consumer is interested in what benefits them, not watching a bunch of A-list celebrities signing their soul to the devil live.
Tidal is actually generally a great streaming platform but I don't understand how these celebrities - who are also owners - didn't have a say in the launch and the PR. Out of all of those people, many of them savvy businesspeople as well as artists, no one thought "hey, this is a really bad idea?"
