Ever since Spotify was released in the United States, there
have been myriad other streaming services hoping to join the fray and provide
some competition. So far, seemingly none have panned out. Beats Music, which I
was hoping might become Spotify’s #1 competitor, hasn’t fared particularly
well, and there are rumors that Apple is going to shut down the platform as we
currently know it, attempting to integrate the streaming service into iTunes
sometime in 2015. While that will surely be interesting, for the time being
Spotify reigns supreme.
A new challenger – Tidal - has entered the fray,
with a key characteristic setting it apart from Spotify: sound quality. For the
cost of $19.99 a month, you have access to a digital library of over 25 million songs in lossless FLAC formats, a marked improvement in sound
quality over the standard 320 that Spotify streams at.
This seems like it is aimed at audiophiles at first glance –
the higher price and FLAC format likely would only appeal to those who highly
value sound quality. For most listeners, the difference between FLAC and 320
formats is negligible, and indeed it is only really noticeable when using
superior audio equipment. At the same time, I’d say that sound quality is starting
to enjoy more popular appeal – vinyl records, while by no means prevalent, are
somewhat recently enjoying a spike in popularity, perhaps from those who decry
the lack of tangible items in modern music distribution. Along with that, Beats
headphones and other such “higher” quality headphones advertise their advanced
sound quality over their competition. Moreover, Tidal seems to have some
intriguing features that might explain why they think casual listeners would be
willing to pay extra for the service – it has a substantial HD music video
library, as well as a Shazam-esque feature that essentially does the same thing
as the app, then provides the listener with the ability to stream the song
right after discovering what it is.
I’m just not sure that will be enough to convince most
listeners to make the switch from Spotify. Even looking at a video from Tidal themselves, one can see why some like myself might be wondering how much Tidal
truly differentiates itself:
The design and format of Tidal is very similar to that of
Spotify, so much so that if I just quickly glanced at the video, at pretty much
any point I’d probably assume it was about Spotify. While the design may
change, Tidal will probably need to roar out of the gate in order to have a
chance to make a dent in the streaming service industry. At any rate, I will
probably test out the free trial and make my own decision about the platform.
Tidal is available to anybody who would like to do the same.
