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Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

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Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#51
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, you can only publish if you're registered with one of four record labels: https://tidalsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201167132...

That says unsigned artists must register with one of those four services . From their web page, the first one listed ( https://www.recordunion.com/ ) is a digital distribution company that charges under $15/year to interface with an online store on the artist's behalf. If an artist is signed to a label then it's on the label to have a working relationship with the online stores and streaming services.

So... they have to pay $15 a year for someone else to upload their music?

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#52
post #8

I'd pay $20/month or more for a service that: * had high quality streams * had gigantic library * _biggest of all_ cracked the 'discovery' nut. I listen to music all day, I don't like to listen to the same tracks more than a few times so I have a hard time keeping my queue full. I'm a Spotify subscriber so I'll find an artist I think is interesting, play their whole discography and then start digging into 'related ar…

What do you think of Pandora's radio stations?

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#53

Here's the problem: I don't want another music service. I want all my favorite artists on one music service. There is literally no reason for them to not be other than various forms of greed. Garth Brooks created his own music streaming service because the people behind the album don't get enough attention. Taylor Swift doesn't put her music on Spotify because she can make more money on iTunes. Jay Z creates a stream…

I don't think Taylor Swift has any more greed than Spotify. It's just less couth because the profit motive is not in a human's charter.

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#54
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried many of their playlists. I've found some that are very good and was thrilled to find them, however the content was easy to exhaust and I ended up picking apart those playlists for new artists. Back to square 1 if you will. I know it sounds like whining, but I really think the 'killer app' of music will be something that can effortlessly pick out the unknown gems from the ocean of new music. I'm continually…

I can't help but feel that you're doing it wrong? Spotify playlists are beautiful because you subscribe to it. The playlists are updated and curated continuously. This is true of the Spotify-published playlists and those of musicians, celebrities, etc.

Sure, i know what you're saying. The playlists I do subscribe to are indeed updated continuously. However updates are relatively minor. A few songs from artists already on the list, maybe one or two totally new-to-me artists every other week. I'm not saying it's nothing but I want more.

Spotify boasts a gigantic library, I cant imagine I've heard everything good (objectively) already. There has to be thousands of hours of material that I simply can't find that I'd otherwise love to hear.

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#55
post #52
post #8

I'd pay $20/month or more for a service that: * had high quality streams * had gigantic library * _biggest of all_ cracked the 'discovery' nut. I listen to music all day, I don't like to listen to the same tracks more than a few times so I have a hard time keeping my queue full. I'm a Spotify subscriber so I'll find an artist I think is interesting, play their whole discography and then start digging into 'related ar…

What do you think of Pandora's radio stations?

It has been a couple years since I've given Pandora a fair try. I was a paid subscriber for a while but I ended up leaving the service because I thought their radio stations and library were too shallow. I'd request a station for an artist only to find it was not available or when available they'd only play a narrow spectrum of related songs.

Also their radio stations suffered the same problem as Spotify does. Trying to tune the station by giving feedback on dis/likes only caused the station to focus in.

I could give them a try again if they've expanded their selections.

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#56
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That says unsigned artists must register with one of those four services . From their web page, the first one listed ( https://www.recordunion.com/ ) is a digital distribution company that charges under $15/year to interface with an online store on the artist's behalf. If an artist is signed to a label then it's on the label to have a working relationship with the online stores and streaming services.

So... they have to pay $15 a year for someone else to upload their music?

This is normal. I think Pandora and Grooveshark are the only services that don't require a distributor for unsigned artists.

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#57
post #5

“This is a platform that’s owned by artists,” - Jay Z I think he meant, "This is a platform owned by established, rich, and ageing artists, whose resolve to assist up-and-comers should rightfully be questioned." Not to say this can be any worse then something like Spotify, which already trounces over the independents, but I hardly think this is a likely group to bring democracy and creativity back to the musical scen…

Actually, you can only publish if you're registered with one of four record labels: https://tidalsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201167132...

None of those companies are labels, they are all distributors - I suspect in short order you will see more of the major distributors on board, e.g. The Orchard, InGrooves, and possibly some of the commodity style ones too like TuneCore and CD Baby

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#58
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like Spotify's discovery. I subscribe to a lot of playlists that are constantly updated where I can get a lot of new artists from. Never used the radio, I just go to their playlists and find Americana or Alternative or whatever I'm looking for.

I've tried many of their playlists. I've found some that are very good and was thrilled to find them, however the content was easy to exhaust and I ended up picking apart those playlists for new artists. Back to square 1 if you will. I know it sounds like whining, but I really think the 'killer app' of music will be something that can effortlessly pick out the unknown gems from the ocean of new music. I'm continually…

The key for me was to find interesting people to follow on Spotify. There are a lot of folks who seem to do music discovery as a full-time gig. Find/follow enough of those people and your hunger will be satiated.

Though, I wish there were better ways to discover people to follow, it's fairly manual now and much of it goes on outside of Spotify.

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#59

Here's the problem: I don't want another music service. I want all my favorite artists on one music service. There is literally no reason for them to not be other than various forms of greed. Garth Brooks created his own music streaming service because the people behind the album don't get enough attention. Taylor Swift doesn't put her music on Spotify because she can make more money on iTunes. Jay Z creates a stream…

You single out Taylor Swift, the number one recording artist in the country today. She's sold millions and millions of albums. Her brand in this country is certainly bigger than Spotify's. If spotify had 100 million active users you bet your ass Taylor Swift and every other professional recording artist would be in their catalog. But it's just a fraction of that size. Streaming music is still a fragmented market. Spo…

I didn't single out Swift. I mentioned her in conjunction with Jay Z and Garth Brooks.There are a lot of bigger artists on Spotify than Taylor Swift though.

Re: Jay Z Reveals Plans for Tidal, a Streaming Music Service

#60

I don't know if the world is ready for this kind of thing. As an audiophile I think it is great that we're going to get access to a trove of lossless music, but I think the majority who is happy listening to music through their iPhone earphones and tinny speakers in their smartphones won't care (especially not enough to pay double the cost of a Spotify subscription). Then there is the kind of internet speed required…

It might work in the same way that selling overpriced (but, from what I hear, still decent) Beats headphones has worked out. It wouldn't surprise me if a significant number of people will prefer Tidal because it has 'lossless music' and sounds 'totally better'.

Whether it actually matters most of the time is not that important, in the same way that discussions about Beats headphone's price/quality are not so interesting to most people who buy these things.

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