Remember Jay Z’s Tidal? Yeah, we barely do too.
Since its glamorous and self-aggrandizing launch earlier this year, Tidal’s impact has been about as significant as the tsunami that was supposed to hit LA last week. The streaming service’s high-profile founders were quick to address the skeptical response to its launch, but despite some exclusive releases, Tidal hasn’t done much in the way of game changing.
Tidal’s indie rock representative Win Butler of Arcade Fire spoke to The Independent last week about the streaming service’s botched launch. “None of the artists knew anything about the PR,” co-owner Butler said. “It was a poorly managed launch, but conceptually the thing that we liked about Tidal was that it’s HD streaming quality.”
While he stands by his decision to join Tidal, Butler attributes the service’s shaky start and high HD cost to the major record labels involved—despite the fact that one of Tidal’s selling points was its image as an artist-owned-and-operated company. According to Butler:
The major label music industry has completely ruined every aspect of their business. At every step of the way they’ve had the tools offered to them to create an industry that works, and they’ve completely blown it. That’s why we never had any interest in signing a contract with one of these companies because they’re clearly completely clueless.
Read the full interview over at The Independent.
(via Consequence of Sound)
