The last line attempts to focus on PR, but the article itself makes it plain there are serious financial issues involved. Being behind in royalty payments is recoverable, but this could also be a giant death spiral.
What I like about Tidal is the vast catalog. Depending on how that was structured, this could be unsustainable.
Have been following the streaming services and their royalty payments for some time because it seems to me that most services (and especially Spotify) do not charge nearly enough in monthlies to provide reasonable compensation to artists. Naxos is offering a high end streaming service for classical music with a more realistic $32 a month or $315 a year. This is a move forward in my opinion because it promotes a realistic business model not based upon loss leading used to grab listeners then making up for the unrealistically low income in some other way later one. The downward pressure from streaming on musicians has been devastating and has recently been described in depth by the NY Times and other publications. Streaming services and Internet users should consider the total economic model because if the design promotes poverty on the part of the participating artists then the artistic content will not last. A separate issue is accountability and transparency. Who knows whether the service provides accurate totals and compensation? Programmers might develop tools to provide some security here.
If Netflix can offer unlimited streaming of video content, which is often more expensive to license than audio content, for $15/month then Tidal should be able to figure out how to do audio for $20/month.
I like Tidal, and they do have a reputation for quality of content even if the business side has been a bit flaky. I have a feeling someone will step in and acquire them if things get dire.
If they fail, there's always Deezer and the upcoming US launch of Qobuz.
It may well be the case that the fees are not enough to cover expenses, and royalty payments are a fraction of what they use to be. At its peak, the worldwide recorded music business made four times what it makes now. Pirating has cut very deep into profits. If you sell CD's or vinyl or downloads or a subscription to a streaming service, you have to price it low enough that someone will pay instead of stealing the content. I hope Spotify can successfully alter their business and get back on track; it would be worse for buyers as well as musicians if they, and other services, fail.
It's not about making money, it's about getting subscribers. As long as people are signing up for the service they will have investors backing them. Not paying people who you owe money to is a time-honored way of doing business with no associated long-term effects. Just ask our President. The title of this thread is fake news!
there's been a series of credible stories about tidal fudging its subscriber numbers and skewing royalty payments towards its artist/owners, none of which bode well. i can see tidal getting acquired by a giant wishing to expand its streaming platform (ala apple/beats); otherwise i'd surmise that they are doomed.
I guess I abused the free trials with Tidal and got *BANNED* - meaning, I they won’t even let me pay for the service! Never liked you anyway. So I pay my $20/mo to Deezer, whose app is sort of glitchy, but it’s basically a good service. I find it’s hard to get to CD quality sound from streaming even with a lot of extra $ spent in DACs. It sounds good, but not as good, even if the files are bit-by-bit identical.
I'm quite happy with Tidal. On a side note, Spotify pays an artist 1/16 of a cent for every track played. Which doesn't like much until you start multiplying that by the thousands and tens of thousands, etc.
I hope Tidal stays afloat and becomes profitable. I like MQA titles. Perhaps Bob Stuart of Meridian can throw them a loan. He makes alot on money from MQA licensing and I would think he stands to lose if Tidal folds...
Alas, as in the past, the musician gets the money last. So, basically TIDAL is bleeding cash and using the artists' already earned royalties to fund the company. This will probably be the undoing of TIDAL's current ownership group. They won't be able to pay the accumulating interest on six months' worth of unpaid royalties--together with the legal bills they will owe for defending against the breach of contract cases that will be filed. They may also be liable for the attorneys fees the record companies and artists incur in collecting their earned but not paid royalties. The one asset they will have to pay their debts will be their equity positions in TIDAL. It is a good product that will probably survive with a different mix of ownership.
In December 2017, someone reported that Tidal may only have enough cash left to last six months. I searched Google today and found no information on the financial condition of Total Streaming. Are they really in trouble? What is the real story? Are they for sale?
The above post reports that Tidal has serious problems in various areas. Others have reported that "Tidal’s subscription numbers have been disputed, but estimates put it between 1 and 3 million, much further behind even Apple Music, which has 30 million. With no turnaround in sight, or change in strategic direction, some analysts speculate that Tidal will eventually SELL itself to one of its rivals, hoping to buy their subscribers and exclusive content on the cheap".
I am a Tidal Streaming user and like it very much. Its sound quality is excellent, its album selection is great for me and I enjoy the MQA selection. if Tidal goes out of business, my Aurender will support QuBuz when it becomes available in the USA (but no other non compressed music streaming service).
Based on many Audiogon posts, many Audiogon users are Tidal customers. I hope that Tidal Steaming continues and doe NOT go out of business.
Yes I have been posting about Tidal. l like Tidal, don’t like what Jay-Z has done to it. One question persists, to which no one has an answer, is there ANY other streaming service that provides MQA content???
I don’t know of any other service that offers MQA, but I wouldn’t be too worried. Last year streaming accounted for 65% of all music revenues. Cd, vinyl and dvd combined accounted for 15% according to the RIAA. Tidal will be around for a while and new ownership will probably be good for it.
@hgeifman If you have ROON with Tidal integration you can just backup the ROON catalogue. I asked the ROON guys about this a few years ago and they said the TIDAL track\ names would also be saved in the backup.
@yyzsantabarbara, Thanks. Unfortunately, my Aurender N10 Music Server does not support ROON.
@tomcy6, Thanks. As you stated, I certainly hope TIDAL will be around for a while. I believe TIDAL is the only music streaming service that provides MQA Coded albums. Tidal Streaming is excellent and I am surprised it does not have more subscribers. I wonder if the above are numbers are correct.
Email I received from Qobuz: “we are not opened yet in the United States but we hope to extended our services there very soon as well. Thanks a lot for your interest! By registering to our NewsLetter, you will be informed of the opening for new countries. (it's planned for this fall at this stage). We are included in the AURENDER Music Servers”. Unfortunately, no release date announced yet.
i also emailed Tidal about their financial status and they have not responded yet. Unfortunately, they may not respond.
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