It’s not companies like Spotify that are preventing music artists from receiving their just rewards. The New Republic was hardly the only outlet to conclude that Jay Z, in his quest to rectify the unfair streaming-music pay system for artists, “has set his sights on the wrong target. Of course, there’s one cavernous difference between those two scenarios: music consumers aren’t the ones who pay out endorsement money. It’s not to fill their own pockets, it’s to create a sustainable industry.” There is some bravery for what these artists are trying to do. “But if an established artist goes out and steps outside of the box and says, ‘I’m trying something different,’ that invites criticism. “Look, at the end of the day, if any established artist goes out and gets an endorsement deal - no one’s gonna criticize them for that because that’s how they make money,” chief investment officer Vania Schlogel told Billboard a couple of days after the ill-fated event.
The company’s attempt to address the backlash only provided more fodder for outrage. There really isn’t much distance between citing “The most pretentious lines from Alicia Keys’ valedictory speech,” which Britain’s the Independent went to the trouble of doing, and reporting that Tidal’s celebrity owners had “encouraged fans to change their social media profiles to a picture of Jay Z cuddling a large pile of cash,” as satirical Irish site Waterford Whispers News did. Now, if you’re an avid music consumer who makes regular visits to YouTube or already subscribes to Spotify or Rdio (or is awaiting Apple’s relaunch of its Beats service), you’ll find yourself in the position of being both the prime target audience for Tidal and among the ones least likely to submit.Įither way, the product unveiled this week inspired so much gleeful vitriol, it rendered parody virtually impossible.
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Tidal also offers streaming video - including live performances and TV appearances, some of them exclusive - and playlists put together by, among others, Beyoncé and Coldplay. Subscribers, including Canadians, pay either the standard 10 bucks a month other services charge or 20 bucks for a higher quality audio stream that, depending on your speakers or whether you’re listening on a phone, you might or might not be able to easily discern.
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That means nothing is free and some things are twice as expensive.
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Owned in large part by a small group of music stars - from Rihanna and Jason Aldean to Alicia Keys and Jack White, all of whom were out in full force for the announcement - Tidalis intended, as Jay Z told The New York Times, “to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value.” The latest case in point: the tidal wave of ridicule that flattened this week’s star-studded launch of the new Jay Z-backed music service.
There are few more powerful scorn magnets than a group of well-heeled celebrities passing off a business venture as a virtuous social crusade.
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