Speaking on behalf of Tidal, Jay Z and company executive Vania Schlogel answered questions prospective users want to know about the new streaming venture during a Q&A at New York University.
Students of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music had an opportunity to hear Hova and Schlogel answer pre-vetted questions before getting to ask a few of their own. Thanks to FADER, we read through a transcript of the event. Here’s what we learned.
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Photo: YouTube
R0yalties
Unlike Spotify and other music streaming services, their will be no free-tier of listening on Tidal, meaning artist will be fairly compensated. In other words, Aloe Blacc would never be paid a measly $4000 for 168M streams.
Artist Co-Sign
Independent artists could bet their piece of the piece, too. Established acts can co-sign rising musicians on the platform.
photo: WENN
No Downloads
At the moment, content exclusive to Tidal will not be available for download, just streams. Jay Z credits this fact to analytics, which say download numbers are down as music listeners, more often than not, prefer streaming.
Pricing
Fret not, people. Tidal will be available for both $9.99, like Spotify and Beats Music. But music heads who care to hear their tunes in high-fidelity quality can pay $19.99.
No Competition
Jay says that Tidal’s goal is to improve the streaming business to better benefit artists. If that inspires change throughout the energy, so be it.
Simple Conversation
The Brooklyn rapper thinks the way to expel all murmurs of Tidal being a “pretentious, self-serving” platform is through conversation. “You never hear [Apple CEO] Tim Cook’s net worth whenever he tries to sell you something,” Jay Z said. He’s clear that, like Apple, Tidal is selling a service.
Stocks
Jay Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Usher, J. Cole, and more have stock in Tidal. But that isn’t to say that indie artist can’t do the same. There’s a stock appreciation rights program, albeit “nascent,” but still present.
Involvement Of Labels
In response to a question about whether or not Tidal excludes major labels, Jay said “we can’t exclude the major labels because they have contracts with the artists.” But in the same breath, he explained that he has no label and his music is on Tidal. In other words, deals get done everyday, b.
photo: WENN
No
No, Tidal isn’t a record label, of sorts. Jay Z says they have “bigger ambitions.”
Declaration
Many were confused about the contents of the document Jay Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, and the other artist-owners of Tidal signed after the official announcement. Apparently,
Get all of the details here, courtesy of FADER.
