Tidal, musican Jay-Z’s CD-quality streaming music service, doubled its net losses in 2015 according to the Wall Street Journal. The net loss amounted to 239 million Swedish kronor ($28 million) in 2015. In 2014, the service posted a net loss of 88.9 million Swedish kronor.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that revenue rose 30% to 402 million Swedish kronor from 309 million kronor.
Tidal burst on to the scene as a streaming service whose primary focus was high-quality music streams in contrast to the highly compressed offerings of its competition.
As of June, Tidal said it had 4.2 million paying subscribers. Even though Tidal has promised higher quality and even some exclusive content, it has had a hard time keeping pace with industry titans, AppleMusic and Spotify. By contrast, Apple Music boasts 17 million paying subscribers, and Spotify has 30 million paying subscribers.
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Tidal charges $20 per month for high-quality versions of its 40 million-song catalog and $10 a month for lower-quality streams. The audiophile community, that Jay-Z’s streaming service might seem to cater to, hasn’t necessarily shown a penchant for streaming services. Instead, a number of audiophile-focused download stores have arisen online, none of which offer a streaming option.
I liked the Tidal Hi-fi service but didn’t use it enough to pay the $32/month it costs here with tax in Canada. Here’s a genius idea….lower it down below $20/month and myself and probably millions of others will join. Don’t be greedy for a change.
It’s 12$ in Europe, for the hi-fi subscription
Thanks for that bit of info Michael.
Living in Erurope and paying 19,90 EUR a month: how did you get a 12$ hifi subscription?
Two things, from a cheap audiophile:
1. Mr. Sherwood, I’m also in Canada and my bill (from PayPal) says “$19.99 CDN” each month… Where are you coming up with $32? There could be some discrepancy somewhere??
2. The $20 I spend each month on Tidal is so much less than the (at least) $30 or so that I spend on bargain/used CDs that I barely listen to anyways. AND having Tidal means I can stream all of that “Def Leopard’s Greatest Hits” crap losslessly from my NAIM UnitiQute, not to mention the hours of lower-res listening in my car, my pocket, while grocery shopping, etc.
I think TIDAL is an absolute audiophile bargain and a must-have.
My 2¢ 🙂
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