On March 30, Jay Z, Kanye West, Beyoncé, and 13 other superstars held a press conference announcing the launch of Jay Z’s newly acquired streaming service: Tidal.

Tidal streaming has two tiers of subscription packages. The lower-tiered package is $9.99 per month for unlimited streaming with standard sound quality. The higher-tiered package is $19.99 per month for unlimited lossless streaming and sound quality of the highest audio fidelity. Free 30-day trials are available for both packages.

Syracuse University professors James Abbott and David Rezak weighed in on what sets Tidal apart from heavyweights like Spotify and Google Play, and what its chances of success are.

Here’s a breakdown of the key differences between Tidal and Spotify, what makes each site unique and what all the rage is when it comes to the newest service in music streaming.

Lossless audio

Abbott, a professor of practice of music, compared how millennials listen to music to eating food with too much salt.

“If you’re used to food with too much salt, you’re going to have a preference,” Abbott said.

The MP3 file came out when digital music sales became an industry trend. The file size of uncompressed audio was too large for Internet speeds, so compression codecs like the MP3 reduced file size while retaining some semblance of original audio quality.

As a result, the technical quality of music was being downgraded, Abbott said.

For Abbott’s generation, who grew up listening to long play records and later CDs, the downgrade in quality was jarring. But those who grew up with MP3s, Abbott said, are used to it.

Abbott said the availability of on-demand lossless streaming could make a major difference for today’s average consumer, but it depends on many factors.

“With a decent set of speakers or playback system, you will hear a night-and-day difference between compressed and uncompressed audio,” Abbott said.

But on laptop speakers or iPhone earbuds, the difference is negligible, especially to untrained ears, he added. Either way, Abbott said he hopes that the ease of lossless streaming establishes a new trend in music consumption standards.

“They’re offering freedom to musicians,” Abbott said. “They’re saying, ‘Give people your songs in the same full quality that you made them.’”

Artist-backed

Spotify has had many grapples in the music industry regarding the artist’s cut of its profit. Taylor Swift pulled all of her music from Spotify last November, as have other artists like Thom Yorke and Garth Brooks. The relationships Spotify has with all the major players in the music industry is a bad thing for artists, Abbott said.

Each of the superstars, excluding Jay Z, at Tidal’s press conference reportedly hold a 3 percent stake in the company. But without explicit details so far on the artist compensation scheme, it remains to be seen how artist-friendly Tidal actually is.

“What happens to the little indie artists or the emerging rappers that have decent followings and a little momentum?” Rezak said. “Are they getting the same favored nations deal that the member owners get? Do they get the same compensation rate? And if they don’t, how is it better than Spotify?”

Exclusive content

Tidal has exclusively released Rihanna’s new single, “American Oxygen,” and has promised more exclusive content on the way.

“Everybody who wants to play in this digital space now has to offer some exclusive content,” Rezak said. “Netflix has to do that. (Tidal) would be doomed if they didn’t.”

However, Rezak said, the exclusive content needs to be released at “full throttle” for it to be a major consumer attractor. But with world-famous artists like Kanye West, Daft Punk, Coldplay and others on Tidal’s team, Tidal is poised to become an exclusive content powerhouse.

“I guarantee Spotify is watching to see how it takes off,” Abbott said. “If they think there’s money to be made, they’re gonna jump right in there. But it’s cool to see an artist-driven service saying right from the start, boom, we’re going to make this the highest quality it can be.”

Published on April 6, 2015 at 11:45 pm

Contact Momin: mrafi@syr.edu