Tidal does it again…
Beyonce exclusively released her latest album ‘Lemonade’ on Jay Z’s streaming service Tidal, over the weekend. Shortly after, news surfaced that the album would only ever be available on Tidal and will not be distributed on any other streaming service. Though, the album became available to download on iTunes yesterday (April 25th).
Since Beyonce fans found out, the streaming platform has experienced a major surge in downloads of the app. The app is now the most downloaded music smart phone app in Britain and the United States, according to App Annie.
There has been no reports from Beyonce or Tidal confirming the duration of the ‘Lemonade’ exclusive. But, questions have been raised about whether or not this is a ploy to dramatically bump Tidal user numbers. Streaming exclusives tend to create a sense of urgency for fans to sign up to a particular service, and it worked with the Kanye West exclusive and it seems to be doing to same with the Beyonce exclusive.
Kanye said that he would ‘never never never’ release his album on any other service apart from Tidal, and look what happened there – Approximately six weeks after being a Tidal exclusive Kanye West’s ‘The Life of Pablo’ album became available on nearly every streaming service that exists.
But, who is benefiting from this exclusivity…apart from Tidal?
The answer is nobody. The typical music fans pays for one music streaming service, if any. So if you’re already signed up to Apple Music or Spotify for example, it’s punishing music fans who already pay for their service of preference.
It also scares away the casual music listener – some music fans want to listen to music in a simple and easy way, they don’t want to have to sign up to trials and input card details every time a music streaming service releases an exclusive. Then there’s remembering to cancel a subscription if you don’t want to opt into the monthly fee.
There’s also the issue of piracy. If a music fan is already paying for a service or simply doesn’t want to sign up to that particular service, they will find other ways to consume music. When Kanye West exclusively released ‘The Life of Pablo’ on Tidal, the album was downloaded half a million times, according to Torrent Freak.
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