Musicians hope to find a solution to low-revenue music streaming services through fellow musician Jay Z's latest business venture Tidal.
Many artists hoped the Internet would help fix the troubles they have in getting discovered. However, many musicians have found that despite the relative ease in getting more exposure over the Internet, it has also made it more difficult to make a living because it allowed listeners to get the music for free or for very cheap via Spotify, Pandora and YouTube.
Deseret News National previously reported on the controversy around how much money artists receive for their music. For example, Avicii’s song “Wake Me Up,” was streamed 168 million times via various services in the U.S, but each band member made just $4,000 off of the song.
Tidal, a pay-to-listen music app designed to help better support artists financially, hopes to reverse this trend for artists.
The app will play high-quality music and include exclusive material, according to Engadget.
But are music fans willing to subscribe to Tidal’s service?
Many people think that the music streaming service which, according to International Business Times, is co-owned by several other celebrities including Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye West, Madonna, Jack White and Alicia Keys is just another example of the rich getting richer.
Jay Z took to Twitter this weekend to defend Tidal and explain why he believes it’s a good service for artists involved. Fans and critics of Tidal in turn reacted to his tweets by sending Jay Z their thoughts on the matter.
Tidal's strongest selling point is that it may end up helping struggling artists get paid more — 75 percent of royalties, according to Jay Z. This was met with mixed support from fans.
The New York Daily News reported that many people are saying that Tidal is not doing well financially, but Jay Z tweeted that's not true.
Email: mjelalian@deseretnews.com