Jay Z’s Launch of Tidal Is Far From Pitch Perfect
Jay Z is recruiting music’s biggest names to make his high-fidelity streaming service, Tidal, seem like a real threat to Spotify, Pandora and whatever Apple has planned for Beats. But the launch event last week achieved all the momentum of a four-way stop.
Tidal’s movement-esque pitch invokes love for music and musicians, good sound quality and compensating artists fairly. Spotify is periodically attacked by the likes of Taylor Swift for the rates it pays; Tidal is granting equity to performers like Madonna, Kanye West and Beyonc.
So they and other stars appeared at the big rollout to sign a “declaration of independence” of some sort (presumably against more miserly music services). Alicia Keys delivered an uplifting but weird speech quoting Nietzsche and describing a mission “beyond commerce … to preserve music’s importance in our lives.” And the musicians took to social media to promote the business, or cause, via the hashtag #TidalForAll.
