Last week Wednesday, Jay Z‘s music streaming site Tidal assemble a wave of celebrities at the Barclay’s Center, to celebrate the company as Tidal Music hits 1 million subscribers, but still yet the service remains dogged by skepticism about whether it can go toe-to-toe with it fellow competitors such as Apple Music, Rhapsody, Pandora and Spotify.
Early this year rap mogul and entrepreneur Sean ” Jay Z ” Cartel, alongside with several celebrities such as Usher, Madonna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, J-Cole, Taylor Swift and others unveiled a start-up music streaming platform that was described as an industry game changer for one that would give artists greater equity in the business and more of the royalties.
An attorney and Jay Z‘s Tidal competitor Pandora s , speaking with CNBC, says that : “I don’t know what the hell it is,” shouting over thumping music that filled the corridors of the Brooklyn-based arena. He joked that it might have been the name of a musical group he’d never heard of.
However, some say the owners appear to be facing a tough lesson in running a startup in the hot yet mercurial technology sector: star power doesn’t always equal success. This is especially true when you’re competition is Apple, Google Music and Spotify, and music consumers still insist on receiving at least some services for either free or cheap.
“No one is going to a site just because famous artists own it for the same reason that no label can succeed selling music from its own website,” said Peter Alhadeff, music and business management professor at Berklee College of Music.
Some experts still think that perhaps Tidal Music and its owners Jay Z may not actually be out to change the game for all artists, but rather seek something much bigger for themselves. It’s a critique that’s dogged the service since its inception. For more on this story read the full CNBC report.
Photo Credit: Patently Apple
