Independent NDM case study: Media Magazine research

Independent Case Study: TIDAL

With the emergence of new technologies and new ways for music lovers to listen to, and own, the music they love. The industry is still struggling to deal with how these changes have affected their balance sheets, and the pace of change doesn’t look like it’s slowing yet. Working musicians would hope (ultimately) to be signed to a record label. A variety of different types of deal could be struck but generally the deal would protect the label. The record company would pay the artist a sum of money as an ‘advance’, to record some material, and specify how much the artist would have to sell before that advance would be paid off – then the artist would start to get a cut of the profits (usually about 15%). The label would have the records and CDs physically manufactured, and use its distribution and marketing network to get the product into record shops, and to get promotion via radio, TV, magazines and so on. In the meantime, the label would arrange tours, with all the accompanying merchandising, as another revenue stream, and the publishing arm of the label (or an independent publisher) would collect royalties from all the airplay and other usage of the artist’s materials, taking a cut themselves. In this complex, old-fashioned model, the artist brings the talent, and the label provides everything else that only a large corporation can provide – expensive recording facilities, plants to bulk-manufacture records, the network to distribute the recordings widely to shops, a large fund to market the work via traditional media, the logistical expertise to mount a proper tour, the business acumen to collect royalties. In the modern digital world, much of this can actually be done on a smaller scale and we may even be able to circumvent the record companies entirely.

TIDAL gives its members access to exclusive music, videos, tickets, merchandise. TIDAL has two pricing tiers: either $9.99 or $19.99 a month when you register at TIDAL.com. Both pricing levels come with the same access to exclusive content and experiences, and the $19.99 tier has the added benefit of high-fidelity sound, delivering the music users the way the artists and producers intended it to be heard. There is no compression of the files, and the music is CD-level quality. TIDAL provides a 30 day free trial period to all new customers on both subscription tiers.

With the emergence of LimeWire, which was well known to be a downloading service for illegal music and other file-sharing sites more than ten years ago, it became obvious that the internet offers a perfect way for artists to distribute music. With the newest service, TIDAL artists could use the same technology to promote and distribute their own music. In this new world, there would be no place for physical records; instead music would live as data on people’s computers. CD and DVD revenues fell by £8.7 million in 2009, but digital revenues grew by £12.8 million. The ubiquitous MySpace emerged as (among other things) a platform for artists to host, promote and distribute music. The site has famously launched careers, including that of Nicki Minaj. Nicki Minaj was actually signed to a record label at the time her massive popularity on MySpace broke. However, as the first high-profile artist successfully to promote themselves via the site, she highlighted the importance of the medium. Minaj’s story is a good example of how early adopters can use the free technology available at their fingertips. Sites like TIDAL, Apple Music and Spotify satiate music lovers who want to listen to, then purchase, music – their 4 million song database is available to any listener who doesn’t mind paying a monthly rate, and it’s this advertising revenue that funds the venture. However, it doesn’t necessarily offer an avenue for new music to be heard as some artists may choose to leak their music and refuse to give music streaming sites a chance to release music through them.

Music is one of those things in life that we all interpret differently. It has the power to bring people together whilst simultaneously segregating us. This is more apparent through the availability of new music streaming services. Popular songs of today have more power than ever before. They dictate social circles, fashion trends, the clubs you go to (preference of DJ playlists), new memes, slang... the list goes on. And let’s not forget – according to popular conspiracies – mainstream music is also responsible for ‘brainwashing’ the delicate minds of the prepubescent population. TIDAL is hip-hop inspired service and hip-hop evidently as a genre is synonymous with youth culture. There’s no disguising that. In a n interview, rapper Kanye West suggested recording material in this way as you ‘connect with the beat more’ and feel the words, inadvertently making the sound more ambiguous. Listening to another Chi-town rap legend such as Twista, you’d genuinely question how anybody with functioning eardrums can actually decipher the message behind the music.

Audience pleasures have not completely been fulfilled as Spotify is the main competitor and the first established music streaming service which offers a cheaper price of subscription such as £9.99 a month and students receive discount so their subscription automatically goes down to £4.99 a month and this is a useful tactic considering that the main target market for music streaming is students. TIDAL provides audience pleasures to a short extent as users receive exclusive music first, such as Kanye's new album "The Life of Pablo" which was  released on TIDAL first before any other platform. This creates excitement for users which links to Blumler and Katz which both entertains it's users and helps develop  sense of identity as artists who release exclusive content could be seen as role models to users.

As TIDAL is referred to as a "luxury hi-fi music streaming service" the demographic would be an ABC1 considering the fact that is expensive compared to leading rival Spotify. The age group would be from 15 - 35 years - teenagers are the more focal part of the target audience as they would be more up-to-date with new music and interested in discovering new types of music as TIDAL includes all genres. Also, considering the fact that hip-hop mogul Jay-Z owns the company I would say that hip-hop fans in general would join and subscribe to TIDAL. In terms of psychographics this would relate to Aspirers - those who are materialistic and image orientated and believe that joining TIDAL would make them appear more well-off as it's a "luxury". Also, explorers who are searching for new types of music and this can successfully be acquired considering TIDAL has already have set playlists, for instance  there are playlists for the 90's hip-hop era. This would help explorers find their individuality more and find new/different types of music to be interested in.

TIDAL in comparison to Spotify and Apple music is described as "the worst-sounding" when it comes to streaming top quality music. Also, artists who have a contract with TIDAL such as Rihanna and Kanye West have decided to release their albums exclusively just on TIDAL. Which forces fans to subscribe to TIDAL and this has frustrated many people as before it was easy to illegally download albums before release. 

According to recent reports, Spotify, TIDAL’s rival, uses 70% of the overall revenue they collect to rights holders – in other words, to the artists. According to its figures, the amount of royalties that Spotify pays to artists doubled from 2013 to 2014, from half a billion to a cool billion US dollars. However, there’s no denying that, after a long period in which the music industry seemed filled with inertia about how to combat piracy, Spotify has finally seized upon a working business model that does return some real money to artists and rights-holders. What Spotify has realised is that audiences in 2015 are less concerned with owning music than having access to it, and are willing to pay for that privilege. It presents a variety of figures on their website illustrating how all this translates into pay for artists, and it also claims to have turned many downloaders of pirated music into legal. claiming that more than 80% of users on the paid tier started as free users). Users can avail themselves of the feature-limited free tier, or pay subscription fees to be rid of ads and in possession of a greater feature set. As of December 2014, 75%. of Spotify’s 60 million users worldwide (up 20 million in a month!) were using the free tier, with just 25% paying the subscription of £9.99 per month. Spotify’s user base has doubled since 2013 but the proportion of users on the With the news that 50 million songs were streamed in January 2015 (double the previous January’s), and that from February 2015, the UK album chart (as well as the singles chart) now factors in streams, the business models of platforms like Spotify, and indeed YouTube, will be incredibly important – and increasingly under scrutiny – as the landscape changes permanently and streaming becomes the norm.In creating its platform, has Spotify simply restored the business model of the pre-digital music industry, where major labels wield all the power and artists get short shrift.

Spotify, a similar music streaming service has 10 million users. TIDAL has 1 million users and Apple music has 10 million. In my opinion, Easier access compared to ten years ago when people would buy CD's. All music is one playlist and you can adapt that to remove/add songs/albums, which provides greater choice. Also playlists on TIDAL are tailor-made for our listeners, expertly curated by their team, and not by a computer algorithm. It also provides exclusive playlists created by artists, athletes, journalists which show what music they like and helps fans to stay updated by their favourite artists.