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Weekend poll: Do you use a hi-fi music streaming service?
Or are you sticking with standard quality?
Although it seems like the market has largely settled on a couple of flagship options, there's no shortage of ways to stream your favorite songs these days. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music — these are just a handful of the apps you can download from the Play Store right now before diving into curated playlists and new releases. If you really want to get the most out of your music library, though, you'll need higher-quality audio. You can always turn to local playback, but if you'd rather stick to streaming, plenty of existing plans deliver precisely that.
Tidal waves goodbye to premium-only plans with new ad-supported free tier
Along with two Hi-Fi streaming options
There are plenty of music streaming services to pick between today, with Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music among them. Those aren't the only options available, of course. Tidal was one of the first apps to popularize the idea of high-fidelity music streaming, and while it's never reached the heights of its closest competitors, it's still around today. If you're after an alternative free tier to enjoy your favorite songs, you'll be happy to know Tidal has thrown its hat into the ring.
Square just bought Tidal and your guess is as good as ours as to why
The two companies share a love of really boring logos
Square, the company that makes those little portable payment machines you use when you're in a small restaurant or paying for a caricature, is buying Tidal, that music streaming service that's obsessed with audio quality. If it seems like an odd match, consider that musicians often need to get paid in non-traditional ways—that's how it's being pitched in the official announcement, anyway.
Tidal is offering 4 months of Premium and HiFi subscriptions for just $4
An unlimited source of high-fidelity music to help you through the Coronavirus pandemic
The Coronavirus pandemic has forced the majority of the population to stay quarantined at home. Some people may find it difficult to work from home, especially when confined alone. Thankfully, music can be a good motivational factor, especially when it doesn't cost much. To help people go through the situation, Tidal is offering its paid subscriptions for just $4 for four months.
Over the last few years, Waze has partnered up with quite a large number of music and podcast streaming services to make listening to audio while navigating easier and less distracting. Tidal users can finally join in on the party, as the two companies have announced that they're teaming up to bring playback controls to Waze and turn-by-turn navigation to Tidal.
In April, we received word that Amazon was working on a high definition music streaming service to rival Tidal’s HiFi subscription offering, and after months of waiting, a contender has finally emerged.
Amazon already has two music streaming products — Amazon Music (a limited library available to all Prime users) and Music Unlimited (a larger streaming library for $7.99/month). A new report claims the company is working on an additional service intended to directly compete with Tidal.Music Business Worldwide reports that Amazon is "currently in discussion with various large music rights-holders" about a high-fidelity music streaming service. Pricing is expected to be around $15/month, and it will likely launch sometime this year. For reference, Tidal's Hi-Fi subscription costs $19.99/month.One source told the site, "It’s a better bit rate, better than CD quality. Amazon is working on it as we speak: they’re currently scoping out how much catalog they can get from everyone and how they’ll ingest it."If the report is to be believed, Amazon will have four tiers of music streaming services — a free basic option on Alexa speakers, Amazon Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, and a high-fidelity service. That's a lot to keep track of.Source: Music Business Worldwide
Since its introduction in 2014, Tidal has been the main provider of high-bitrate music for streaming in the United States. However, the company is more well-known for its controversies — like alleged inflation of subscriber numbers and artists bailing out — than its actual service. Tidal now has some added competition, as French streaming service Qobuz has expanded to the United States.
Tidal tries to stand out among streaming services by offering both hi-fi music quality and access to artists you can't find on Spotify, like Prince and Beyoncé. But in addition to bringing you music from acts you might have forgotten you were missing out on, that also means more exposure to artists you may not want to hear from at all. Now, thanks to the app's latest update, you can mute those artists when listening on Tidal
Yesterday, Plex announced some huge additions and changes to the music side of your media server. These were so important/awesome that I had to get this out to you in case you hadn't seen it yet. Among many things, Plex has added a deep integration with Tidal, some massive mobile player overhauls, an improved shuffle system, discoverability options, and more.
In addition to all the other hardware-related news today, Amazon is also rolling out its multi-room audio feature to third-party hardware. Called Alexa Multi-Room Music, the expanded support for other Alexa-powered devices will allow you to group third-party speakers, including offerings from companies like Bose and Sonos, together with Amazon's Echo hardware for synchronized playback.
TIDAL doesn't have many fans due to its high pricing and general impracticality, but perhaps today's two additions will sway you to reconsider. Jay-Z's music service now supports Amazon Fire TV and Android Auto --- an odd combo, but any additional support is good to hear about.
The Copyright Royalty Board of the U.S. Library of Congress—which determines the licensing fees paid by streaming services to artists (and their publishers)—has reportedly increased the royalty rate from 10.5% to 15.1% of total revenues for the five-year period from 2018 to 2022. Streaming services rely on the compulsory license established under U.S. law rather than negotiate directly with publishers. For comparison, Netflix and Amazon must negotiate with studios for the use of programs, which is why their catalogs are not "all-inclusive" in the way that music streaming services are.
Jay-Z's high-fidelity music streaming service Tidal is offering a 12-day free trial starting on December 25th. In comparison to normal trials—in which the start and end dates are determined per subscriber—the Tidal trial starts and ends for everyone on December 25th and January 5th, respectively. No credit card is required for the trial, so you can partake without worrying about an unexpected bill. The trial includes access to the premium tier, as well as the lossless Hi-Fi tier.
If you are someone who would pay 20 bucks a month for lossless streaming audio, you would probably like the option to play those high-bitrate tunes through the receiver connected to the biggest screen in your house. It's only fair. Rejoice, audiophiles and audiophile wannabes (like me), because streaming service Tidal has released an Android TV version of its app.
Tidal, the music streaming service owned by rapper Jay-Z, has yet to really take off. Despite the backing of several major artists (Beyoncé, Kayne West, etc), the high subscription price and lack of a major quality difference for most listeners has kept the user base low.
Sprint and Tidal announced today in a joint press release that the cellular provider has bought a 33% stake in Jay Z's streaming service. It is an interesting marriage, considering that both are industries in which competition is wanted, consumers fear consolidation, and the companies are far behind the market leaders in terms of subscriber counts.
Despite some technical objections, T-Mobile's unlimited video streaming option Binge On has proven to be a hit with the company's customers, just as the audio equivalent Music Freedom was before it. With these two programs, T-Mobile customers aren't charged against their data caps for watching or listening on participating services. Today Binge On expands to a few new services, and existing Music Freedom services are adding at least some video content to Binge On.