It’s official, following teasers and a day full of high anticipation and social media campaigning Jay Z and some of the industries biggest artists joined forces to announce the first ever artist owned music and video streaming, entertainment service Tidal.
Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Jack White, Jason Aldean, Chris Martin, Calvin Harris, J. Cole, Jay Z, Kanye West, deadmau5, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Usher all united live on stage for the official press conference live from New York City and signed on for the monumental moment. Each artist is considered a founding member and has an equity stake in the streaming company.
Alicia Keys kicked off the announcement with a speech and was the first to sign on as she welcomed her partners to follow her lead.
“We come together before you on this day, March 30, 2015 with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be another one of those moments in time, a moment that will forever change the course of music history,”
“Our goal is simple. We want to create a better service and a better experience for both fans and artists. And that is our promise to the world. Our mission goes beyond commerce. It goes beyond technology. Our intent is to preserve music’s importance in our lives.”
Jay Z purchased Swedish tech company Aspiro for $56 million and relaunched it to compete with Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, and other streaming services. TIDAL bills itself as the first music streaming service that combines high-fidelity sound quality, high-definition music videos, and expertly-curated editorial. It will offer artists up to twice the payouts as its rival companies.
Watch the official press conference below and check out the Tidal service HERE.
