Jay Z (Photo : Reuters)
Hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Jay Z recently voiced out his concerns about the rumored black propaganda against his own streaming music service, Tidal. Jay Z slammed his competitors including Google and Spotify through a freestyle rap performance.
Prior to his recent attack on his rivals, Jay Z shared his opinion through Twitter about the current state of free music streaming. Tidal, Jay Z's own premium music streaming service, current has around 770,000 subscription. On the other hand, Tidal's closest rival Spotify has more than 60 million active users.
Tidal's main selling point is its Hi-Fi music streaming quality which promises to deliver the highest quality recording currently available online. Tidal streams its music content at 1,411 kilobytes-per-second (kbps) which is significantly higher compared to Spotify's 320 kbps, according to Tech Radar.
Jay Z has also managed to close down exclusive deals with different artists. Among the top artists having exclusive streaming rights to Tidal is Taylor Swift who made waves after pulling down her records on Spotify. Swift said that Spotify does not properly compensate artists who streams their music over the app.
Tidal is also endorsed by artists including Kanye West, Daft Punk and Rihanna, according to International Business Times.
Despite offering a wide range of exclusive records and high quality audio files, Tidal failed to capitalize on the music streaming market. Industry experts pointed Tidal's $19.99 monthly subscription fee as the main reason that the service failed to attract users.
Tidal's Hi-Fi music quality has attracted a certain demographic of music listeners, most notable are artists and enthusiasts who prefer higher quality than free streaming. However, a significant fraction of the market still prefer the free streaming service offered by Spotify or Google Play Music.
