Jay Z was set to unveil a relaunch of an artist-friendly music streaming service, Tidal, on Monday.
The entrepreneur, whose business ventures run from music to clothing to vodka, is aiming to blast rivals out of the water with an all-star event at Midtown’s James Farley Post Office.
On Monday, Tidal released a video of artists including Chris Martin, Madonna, Jack White and Kanye West sitting around a table without speaking. Several musical artists also turned over their social media feeds to promote Tidal.
Jay ZPhoto: FilmMagic
The new service launches into an increasingly crowded field, from Spotify to Google Play to Apple’s coming Beats relaunch, to name a few.
Despite denying a $9.99 price point last week, Tidal confirmed Monday it will host two tiers of service, one at $9.99 and a second high-quality audio service at $19.99.
In January, Jay Z acquired Tidal, which already has a US presence, from Swedish company Aspiro for $56 million.
The domestic streaming music business is worth some $1.8 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
Artists have complained that they are not seeing significant revenue from the streaming music industry, while the main players such as Spotify say they are handing over hefty fees to artists’ music companies.
Jay Z’s team at Tidal, which includes a former KKR executive as chief investment officer, is fighting to win exclusive rights to release artists’ music ahead of others.
One question remaining: who is providing the financial backing for the service.
The Post reported last week that Tidal has had conversations with Sprint owner SoftBank.
Source: NY POST
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