Jay Z Recruits Beyonce, Kanye West And Madonna To Launch Tidal Streaming Service

Jay Z Recruits Beyonce, Kanye West And Madonna To Launch Tidal Streaming Service

Tidal

by Sarah Fitzmaurice |
Published on

What do Jay Z, Beyonce, Kanye West and Madonna all have in common? They're some of the richest stars in the music industry and they're set to make even more dinero thanks to their latest collaboration.

Jay and his pals launched Tidal yesterday, a streaming service, not dissimilar to Spotify, although - crucially - users will have to pay.

The rapper was joined by the likes of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Calvin Harris and Daft Punk for the launch of the project yesterday and all the artists have signed on as co-owners of the project. This means they've agreed to add exclusive content - music and videos - to the service in return for a share of the profits.

British users can expect to pay £20 for a premium service while US customers can choose between paying around $9.95 for standard sound quality and $19.99 for 'lossless high fidelity sound quality.'

At the launch yesterday the gang were acting like they'd achieved world peace. It was all rather sycophantic. Alicia Keys said: 'We come together before you on this day, March 30th, 2015, with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be another one of those moments in time, a moment that will forever change the course of music history.

'For today we announce of Tidal, the first ever artist-owned, global music and entertainment platform.'

There was also a rather awkward moment when Madonna wrenched her leg up onto the table while she was inking the deal. We're not quite sure why either. Perhaps she was showing that the Brit Award cape-gate fall has done nothing to affect her flexibility. God knows.

Tidal is a response to streaming services like Spotify - artists feel they get a raw deal. To be fair Spotify pays less than a penny per stream of a song. You may remember that Taylor Swift removed her entire back catalogue from the streaming service last year.

Jay Z - whose is estimated to be worth $550 million- and his crew have agreed to offer exclusive video and audio content to the service in return for a share of the profits - the more high profile a star is the more leverage they'll have. But what about emerging artists? It doesn't seem like they'll get a fair deal - it's not even clear if rising stars will be included on the service.

It's not about the music. Tidal seems all about the money.

Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us