Jay Z's Tidal, The Music Streaming Service By Artists That Would Save The World, Is Already A Huge Flop

(Source) — He may be one of hip hop’s biggest names, but that doesn’t guarantee success. Just a month following the launch of Tidal, a new music streaming service billed as “the first music streaming service that combines the best high fidelity sound quality, high definition music videos and expertly curated editorial,” Jay Z and a few of his A-list friends including Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Deadmau5, Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Rihanna and wife Beyoncé, are facing defeat. Two weeks after Tidal made its U.S. debut, iPhone top 20 download chart, the app nosedived out of the top 700, according to BGR. In other words, users prefer 700 other apps to the music mogul’s Tidal. The issue? The cost. Subscribers have the choice between forking over $10 a month for digital audio-quality, a format similar to Spotify or $20 a month for CD-quality sound. Turns out people just aren’t feeling it. And why would they with apps like Spotify and Pandora offering basically the same service for less and in many cases for free?

Oh the worst business plan of all time didn’t work? Shocking. Let me say this: I kind of agree with Jay Z. I know that artists get pennies on the dollar from places like Spotify. I know they deserve more. It doesn’t matter how much money you already have you shouldn’t take a paycut just to be nice, take what you’re worth. But having said all that, the business plan of rolling out the biggest artists in the world and saying “LOOK AT US! WE’RE GETTING SCREWED HERE! FEEL BAD!!!” wasssssss idiotic. I mean look at the signing…

You’ve got motherfuckers who are so rich they show up to business meetings dressed like robots. You’ve got an asshole in a mouse hat. An old woman fucking a table! All of them so self-important they’re acting like starting an expensive Pandora is akin to signing the Declaration of Independence. In their minds that was just as important. So you want me to feel bad for these people so rich that rules don’t apply to them? Get out of here Hov. Make Tidal competitively priced and I’ll probably use it but if you want me to pay double so Daft Punk can get a new shield you’re fucking insane.

PS – If Kanye was the face it’d prob be the #1 app. That dude gets people to buy like $10,000 white tshirts. I think he could get you to pay $20 for music.