The launch of the streaming service Tidal has been met with criticism from artists such as Lily Allen, Mumford & Sons and producer Steve Albini.
Tidal is owned by big-name musicians, including Jay Z, Beyonce, Chris Martin, Daft Punk, Jack White, Kanye West, Madonna, Rihanna and Usher, and has promised to give shares to other artists, too.
In a move that may silence its critics, who say the company will only bolster the careers of its celebrity investors, Tidal has introduced a feature aimed at promoting emerging artists. Tidal Rising is part of an update to the service’s web and mobile app, reports the Drum, and currently lists Drenge, Stealing Sheep, Juce, Chastity Belt, Young Fathers and Marika Hackman among its featured artists. “Every week, nascent talent in any genre will emerge,” Tidal said of its new function.
This new element should also quash the criticism that Tidal will not appeal to smaller artists, a concern most recently voiced by Mumford & Sons in a recent interview.
Despite the introduction of the feature, there are still doubts within the industry about the future of the service. This week, music producer Steve Albini weighed in, poking holes in Tidal’s proposed selling point as a provider of high-quality audio streams, saying: “If you want your music to play at the push of a button, convenience is going to trump sound quality 100 per cent of the time.”
