UnlikeSpotify or Deezer, Apple Music only offers a paid offer (after a short trial period). And like the Cupertino company, the streaming service Tidal has always stuck to a paid offer.
But that will change since this week, Tidal announces the launch of its free offer, financed by advertising.“We believe in the value of music. To stay competitive and continue connecting artists and fans, we are introducing a free tier. Fans can now try TIDAL for free, with access to our entire music catalog and playlists. All with limited interruptions », we can read in an announcement on Twitter.
At the moment, this free offer is only announced in the United States. Besides the fact that there will be advertising on this free offer, users will also be limited in terms of audio stream quality, and will not be able to download music for offline playback.
And that's not all. Tidal also announces some new features that should increase artists' income. With the new HiFi Plus offer, which costs $20 per month in the USA, the platform promises higher remuneration per play for artists.
One of the innovations offered by Tidal is called “Direct Artist Payouts”.“This program will give artists access to an alternate payment stream by allocating 10% of monthly subscriptions at the HiFi Plus level to each listener’s most streamed artist”, explains the streaming service.
In addition, Tidal has also designed a new compensation calculation system. In fact, the royalties, with regard to the HiFi Plus offer, will not be aggregated.“Instead, royalties will go to the artists that TIDAL users actually listen to, so fans can directly support the artists they love”, indicates Tidal.
Fan-Centered Royalties will not be aggregated.
Instead, royalties will go to the artists that TIDAL users actually stream, so fans can directly support the artists they love. (What a concept, right?)
This will start in January 2022 at our HiFi Plus tier.pic.twitter.com/Q8z4fleYOc
— TIDAL (@TIDAL)November 17, 2021
A new beginning?
As a reminder, this Apple Music competitor was launched by Jay-Z six years ago, with great fanfare, with a number of music stars in the United States. Compared to Spotify, it positioned itself as a service closer to artists. But it is clear that the service has not really taken off.
This year, however, the situation could change. Indeed, in March, Square (a company run by Jack Dorsey, who also runs Twitter)announced the acquisitionof a “significant majority” of Tidal, for $297 million.
And obviously, the announcement of the free offer as well as HiFi Plus really marks the start of a new era for the streaming service.
