#TIDALforFEW

On March 30th, Jay Z, along with a host of other high-profile musicians, unveiled a new music streaming service called Tidal. 

The reason given for the creation of the music service is two-fold. The first provided explanation is to supply a 'quality' listening experience for consumers; this new service will provide high-fidelity audio to those who wish to pay a higher monthly fee. The second given reason was to allow artists to make more money through this new streaming model because the service is owned primarily by artists. 

Essentially, Tidal was created to take-on Spotify, which is another streaming service that offers a free, ad-supported experience for listeners. Spotify’s business model still provides revenue for artists, but at an admittedly lower-level than a pay-for-use service does. Tidal will not offer a free service for users.

The big problem with the concept behind the creation of Tidal is the ignorance displayed by these celebrities. The musicians got on stage on Monday and claimed they deserve “respect” and for people to “support the artist” through this "revolutionary" new service. But Spotify provides a model that both allows people that cannot afford to pay a monthly subscription fee to enjoy music and for the artist to also get paid. 

Much of the public has seen through the insensitivity of these musicians with multi-million dollar net-worths using the hashtag "TIDALforALL." The backlash on Twitter was swift and has remained constant.

At the end of the day, the fact that all of these high-profile celebrities would band together for the sole purpose of increasing their revenues is extremely disappointing. Many of these same artists claim to have experienced a number of financial and social tribulations throughout their lives; how ironic is it that these same people are perpetuating the systems that have affected their lives?

This is particularly infuriating with their relative silence on a number of social justice issues. Perhaps instead of attacking a system that allows people to enjoy the music they produce while still providing them money, these musicians should band together to attempt to deal with real issues facing the world.