Last month, hip-hop mogul Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter launched a streaming music network called Tidal. Tidal has launched criticism ever since. Some have called it, ‘A service for the rich supporting the rich.’ It seems nobody is buying into Tidal. Jay Z took to Twitter and did damage control.
Carter is defiant when he says Tidal is going nowhere. Tweeting under the name Mr. Carter, he reminds critics Tidal has only a part of the revenue that Spotify has, but 75 percent of every dollar Tidal makes goes to the respective artist. Carter says this will give help artists give to their fans over and over again. He tweeted Tidal has only been in business a month, yet it has over 770,000 subscriptions. Rome didn’t grow in a day, neither did Spotify, and neither will Tidal. Carter urges patience and asks fans to give Tidal a chance to grow. Jay Z says Tidal doesn’t just sale music; it sells things like concert tickets and even sporting events. Carter insists Tidal will cut out the middle man and gives more power to artists and less power to the CEOs. Jay Z even bragged about his cousin moving to Nigeria on the search of musical talent and bringing them to the Tidal family.
Shawn Carter does bring valid points. When I read stories about how CEOs and managers ripped off musicians over the decades, it’s heartbreaking. The industry is full of stories where people are millionaires one year and broke and homeless the next year. I’m not saying I’m going to be a Tidal customer anytime soon, but I do respect what he’s doing for the artists. But I’m still not on board with Tidal. I still think fans will pay too much. So far, I haven’t heard Mr. Carter give a good reason why people would pay for what they can often get for free. What will it take for Tidal to make artists and fans happy?