Oh physical media. Sorry I missed that.
I am not sure Tidal’s demographic would be interested in physical. Digital maybe. The reality is that a majority of users aren’t going to want either. Stream it!
I hope so!
I am assuming they would save money by dumping MQA licensing.
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Always said MQA will be heading the way of all previous DRM attempts eventually. Lets see.
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So Square bought Tidal.
Folks are going to be in for a rude awakening if/when Square decides to stop allowing other platforms from accessing Tidal. Keeping users within the Tidal ecosystem and using its product instead of accessing Tidal from outside seems normal. Does Tidal really need a niche product?
Other products like Sonos use Tidal-Connect, which allows Tidal to maintain complete control of the user-experience while at the same time allowing users to stream Tidal to [product A]. This product seems unique in that it creates its own Tidal user experience which meshes with its own product not Tidal. Seems to me this is not a win for Tidal in terms of the user experience stand point, nor is it a win in terms of Tidal utilizing and creating a ROI from its Tidal-Connect feature.
With one wave of the magic wand a closed API could happen just that easy.
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Presumably, roon has some sort of contract. On the other hand, I’ve learned that contracts are only as good as each side’s lawyers and the mood (or sobriety) of any given judge on any given day.
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Each sides lawyers…
I’m thinking that a company with a Market Cap of 99.29B USD has some pretty good lawyers.
That would be Square.
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Not only are vinyl sales on the rise but, again, this opens doors for a wide range of product offerings from artist to fans.
I would pay good money to tune into live basement sessions from artists I enjoy. The market is ripe for this type of thing given the new ‘normal’ and all.
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I see your point, but logistically the fulfillment process will be quite an undertaking. 100’s of thousands of artists many of them selling products to fans all over the world. I suppose this could work if Tidal teamed up with Amazon or some other reseller. I wouldn’t underestimate this challenge.
So one very wealthy person sold Tidal to another very wealthy person… big yawn.
While streaming services are great for the consumer, and the upper echelon of the corporate structure, it’s terrible for the average artist. The artists ought to unionize and collectively bargain, like the NFL, NBA, etc players do. It would be like herding cats, but worth a try. If artists had the power to strike and have all the music cease to stream, their hand would be much stronger. And given how little they are paid, going on strike would be an easy card to play.
Square is a payments company and is pioneering all sorts of new payment platforms and currency protocols geared to changes in the traditional workplace. Forbes speculates that Square plans to use its technology to shake up the creative value chain at Tidal (hopefully for the better). A lot of changes coming in the workplace (not just media) so this is a truly massive market.
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You can do exactly this on Bandcamp. It’s great.
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Yes I agree. Bandcamp is excellent.
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Here’s my Tidal/Roon prediction based on nothing but how the tech giants business model works. I predict:
- Tidal data dumps and “deep integration” with Roon will get the axe.
- I also predict that Qobuz will get bought by another giant conglomerate as consolidation in streaming providers accelerates, and that Qobuz “deep integration” also gets the axe.
- Lastly I predict that if Roon doesn’t adjust their strategy, their “streaming first” direction based on “deep integration” is a dead end, because that depends on willing streaming providers. Once the small fry like Tidal and Qobuz get bought, Roon’s 100k users aren’t even a rounding error to those giant companies. They won’t be bothered.
Just two cents worth from a lifetime subscriber and Nucleus Plus owner.
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Roons ‘deep integration’ serves no purpose for neither Tidal or Qobuz and Valance compared to either of their playlist building algorithms is like comparing [Moderated, an idiot] to someone with 150IQ. Bottom line is, its a one sided relationship that is likely to end like all one sided relationships.
FWIW, I’m a lifetime subscriber too.
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Jay Z has star appeal. Jack wants to travel in those circles I guess.
Or Jack is a Roon customer! 
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So Square bought Tidal.
Folks are going to be in for a rude awakening if/when Square decides to stop allowing other platforms from accessing Tidal. Keeping users within the Tidal ecosystem and using its product instead of accessing Tidal from outside seems normal. Does Tidal really need a niche product?
Other products like Sonos use Tidal-Connect, which allows Tidal to maintain complete control of the user-experience while at the same time allowing users to stream Tidal to [product A]. This product seems unique in that it creates its own Tidal user experience which meshes with its own product not Tidal. Seems to me this is not a win for Tidal in terms of the user experience stand point, nor is it a win in terms of Tidal utilizing and creating a ROI from its Tidal-Connect feature.
With one wave of the magic wand a closed API could happen just that easy.
hmm if they do that I’ll drop my sub for Tidal, so they loose anyway, if you pay for it and play via Roon or Tidal App, why should that matter?
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Not sure how much data Tidal gets via Roon plays, but the value in all of this is the user data and how it feeds AI algorithms. There’s almost no value in the subscription payments so that one can play the actual music; that’s just a side effect of the main revenue generator.