Yesterday afternoon, Jay Z relaunched his paid music streaming platform TIDAL with an online viewing of superhero proportion. The anticipation for the event began with notice via the social media profiles of Madonna, Rihanna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Daft Punk & crew being updated with the colour turquoise & the hash tag #TIDALforALL. As Hove, with inspiration from Bob Dylan, proclaimed via tweet: “The Tide’s They Are-A Changing.”
Commencement speaker Vania Schlogel, CIO of Roc Nation, declared the service as “the future of music” and a “global & rapidly expanding streaming platform… owned by artists that will continue to evolve over time. A platform as dynamic as the artists behind it.”
The apparent mission of TIDAL is to change the status quo, reestablish the value of music, & bring artists & fans together. Alicia Keys, the apropos keynote speaker, seemed thrilled; citing the occasion as feeling like a graduation. (From what?) She spoke of the powerful collective energy in the room & quoted Jimi Hendrix & Nietzsche. (Okay choices.)
Not a soul can deny the universal love & language of music, yet no specifics were mentioned as to how TIDAL will manage to accomplish a better service & experience than what is currently offered on the market.
Madonna posted via instagram that “Everything will be explained & revealed in time. Have Faith. And remember nothing is for free!” Sure, Madge. However, one can purchase her debut album on vinyl or cassette tape at the Goodwill down the street for near free. One can also stream it via Spotify for the cost of a wi-fi connection (free @ Dunkin Donuts).
If anything, it was slightly entertaining to watch multi-millionaires awkwardly get in line for applause & sign a piece of paper. Some of our favourite screen capped moments are posted below.
After the conference Madonna posted on her Instagram that “Tidal is not about consumption and greed! It’s about protecting an art-form that is beloved to all of us MUSIC!?? #rebelhearts stand together for what they believe in!”
Hmm.
Keep it locked here @ Vanyaland for more to come as we digest all this. In the meantime, the gathering’s superhero powers were obvious, if you looked closely…
