Tidal Research Paper

It is without a doubt that Spotify has now become the go to place for listening and streaming music legally. Its impact on society has been massive. Spotify now has over 75 million active users, with over 20 million of those being paying users, (Spotify, 2015).

It would also be well to consider that with most music streaming services when you come across a song that you would like to buy it is quite easy and convenient to do so from within the service, and so in addition to greater pay, Spotify likely also causes more sales than radio play.

Since the start of the annual Record Store Day there has been an obvious increase in vinyl sales. Anthony Schoettle informs that in 2007 one million vinyls were sold, however in 2015, sales jumped to nearly twelve million vinyls sold (24A). Within these eight years, vinyl has shown a staggering increase in sales. Even used vinyls are making a comeback. “Local music shop owners say used albums make up 40 percent to 60 percent of the records headed out the door” (Schoettle 24A). The knowledge that the vinyls being bought are vintage and that their sound is original and not autotuned must drive the sales. Along with vinyls’ sales increase, other music platforms have been decreasing in their sales. “CD sales, though, decreased 11 percent in 2015 and digital downloads were down 3 percent, according to Nielsen, while vinyl sales were up 30 percent” (Schoettle 24A). Vinyl is the only music platform that is growing; CDs and digital music have only been staying flat or decreasing in sales since vinyl started making its comeback. Overall, the vinyl industry is making a strong comeback and starting to blow other music platforms out of the water.

Music streaming is the primary way that millions listen to their favorite musical artist today. Streaming music is a multi million dollar business for the leading companies. Music fans realize that Tidal is a company that is owned by Jay-Z. This is a music subscription service that is getting a lot of attention too. Tidal seemed lost at sea, until Desiree Perez turned the tide for the music service. Jay-Z with the help of Desiree Perez has turned the streaming service into a top contender in the industry.

With the advances in technology and increase in internet broadband availability (The Broadband Commision, 2014), record labels are being forces to innovate and update their business models (M.Coz & Torres, 2013) to keep up with the latest technology (Solis, 2015). Of these technologies, the move away from physical sales (of music) to Digital sales is the most significant. Digital sales have increased over the last 6 years (as shown in Table 1) in terms of revenues, and this is set to carry on this way in the future (Solis, 2015).

About a decade ago most people would visit their local Target or Wal-Mart to pick up a new album. Now days it is just a push of a button on your mobile device and the music is on your phone immediately for your enjoyment. It’s easy and convenient.

This is a monumental year for world music industry because global digital revenues exceeded physical record revenues for the first time. As a digital music service, streaming is the biggest issue in the music industry today. Digital music streaming has grown with the improvement of mobile communications and the spread of smartphones. Consumers got used to use streaming service rather than download for various contents including music and videos.

Sure, Taylor Swift is only one artist, but look at those numbers. Over 40 million users, 16 million of who played her tracks in the last 30 days (the number for the last six years is probably staggering), and 19 million playlists. That’s significant, even for a service with as many artists as Spotify.

In lieu of Apple Music's family plan for its streaming subscribers, Tidal is now offering a family plan with discounted rates. Tidal announced it will offer its subscribers a $30 plan for a family of five users. The first user will pay $10 per month, and the additional users will pay $5 per month. A family of three would pay $20 per person, and a family of two would pay $15 per person. Tidal is offering discounts for its high-definition users; the family plan costs $60 per month. Tidal's competitor, Apple Music, is offering family plan rates at $14.99 per month for six users. At $14.99 a month, each user will only have to pay $2.50 per month. To date, Apple Music is the low-cost leader in music subscription services.

Profits are very important in the music industry. Like in every industry or company, profits are what keeps them going and what keeps artists, like Beyonce, making amazing music. When it comes to singles and albums of any kind, albums usually do much better. AN example of this would be the single “Formation” and the album it came from Lemonade. Beyonce’s single, “Formation,” hit the world like a tropical storm. Originally released Feb. 6, and performed at the fiftieth Super Bowl Halftime, "Formation" lead her parade of debuts with points stemming from 174,000 in digital sales and 6.5 million U.S. streams in the week ending April 28. The song was so popular that after the super bowl halftime show, the mention of the American restaurant chain Red Lobster in the song, “When he f*** me good I take his a** to Red Lobster,” (Beyonce, 2016) increased sales at the restaurants by thirty-three percent. In addition to being extremely influential, “Formation” won twenty-four awards, and was nominated for twelve more, ranging from best music video to song of the year and made over three million dollars in sales. (McIntyre I., 2016, paragraph 3) But even though this is a lot of money, it was nothing compared to the album, which had not even debuted yet at the time.

For rap music to reach the consumer, it is the responsibility of a recording label. (Dannenfeldt, 2008) The recording label is responsible for promoting the recording artist and for distribution of the recording artist’s music to retailers. (Dannenfeldt, 2008) With the increase of digital music being downloaded online there are now digital music distributors that are responsible for promoting recording artists music to companies like iTunes, Rhapsody, etc. (Dannenfeldt, 2008) CD sales have been down since 2008 because of the introduction of digital music. (Dannenfeldt, 2008) iTunes has also seen a decrease in sales, and this is because of illegal downloads and also because many people prefer to stream music rather than download. (Dannenfeldt, 2008) Being able to stream music provides an opportunity to people all over the world to listen to the newest artists because it’s free of charge and only requires WIFI access. IHeartRadio an internet radio station allows listeners to hear the newest American artists and songs. Worldwide radio allows users to hear radio stations from over 60 different countries. (Live radio stations from around the world) Recording artists are unhappy with music streaming because they only receive a fraction of money compared to if a listener purchased a CD. (Thompson, 2015) However, I believe that music streaming is a great opportunity in places where they cannot afford CDs or to

The switch to streaming and music apps has caused a shift in the equal values of song sharing (Rau). Music Publishers have witnessed a change in the distribution of entitlements that was brought about by apps, like Pandora and Spotify. The rise of streaming has brought about a negative shift to music publishing that is causing issues like copyright reforms. Music publishers once believed that the shift of streaming would bring about a positive change in the business, but as of now it is an area of growing for the music industry as a whole (Chistman). Through the technological strains of the music business, music publishers get the luxury of discovering songs “that could one day become a generations’ anthem,” which can “shape a nation or maybe even the world”

Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Tidal, What do all of these have in common? They are all currently leading the industry in streaming music from big name artists and even all the way down to up and coming artists. Another similarity between these companies, is that they will all charge you around $15 a month for their full-service subscription. Unfortunately, these companies also have too much power and sway which gives them the chance to charge these outrageous monthly prices. Here at mYOUsic, we feel that customers shouldn’t have to drain their bank account just to listen to their favorite songs. Music should be less about the money and more about the enjoyment that comes with it when you find a new favorite song. We are

In today’s music industry, the majority of recorded music is consumed through digital means - mainly via streaming such as Apple Music and Spotify. To get an idea of its popularity we can see that in 2014, streaming usage increased by 39%, and in 2015, streaming officially took over both downloads and CD sales. (RIAA, 2015) (IFPI, 2015, pp. 8-9) Starting a label in this present time may be challenging. However, with an adaptable and versatile business plan and an intelligent use of marketing, there is ample opportunity for a company to flourish. See appendix (i) for a graphical breakdown of the industry.

The Tidal article displays the rivalry between companies like Spotify and Apple music exposing 1 out of 5 of Porters Five Forces of Competition. Before Jay-Z purchased Tidal the company was started by Kjarten Slette and Thomas Walle hoping to be a part of the change in the evolution of how you receive music. The start-up company confessed the things they struggled with due to not being aware of the market they entered. Tidal received more attention than after the purchase from rap superstar Jay-Z. One of the first fails the former owners discussed was the brand’s name. The company strived to be comparable to Spotify with over 100 million users but the new company was only popular in the Asian, Europe, and Scandinavian markets. Slettle and Walle