Tidal
Tidal revamps its subscription plans and introduces a new way for artists to earn more on its service. In the US, there's also a free, ad-sponsored tier. But for other markets, the standard Tidal HiFi plan gets lossless and high-resolution. It costs $9.99 a month and brings improved music quality (up to 1411kbps), offline capabilities, and access to Tidal Connect and My Activity features.
As The Verge pointed out, Tidal had to match services like Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited that brings lossless to their services without extra charge.The Square-owned company also introduces a new Tidal HiFi Plus option that's $19.99 per month and houses its most premium audio content. It has access to "best-in-class immersive sound formats" like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Audio Recordings. Tidal's Master Quality Authenticated will also be exclusive to this tier.
And if you subscribe to this new premium tier, you can also help artists you love, which should be much better than the meagre pay they get from music streaming services. There are new "direct-to-artist payments" and "fan-centered royalties" features.
Here is what Tidal says two features will offer the artists:
Direct-to-artist payments: Beginning today, TIDAL will launch monthly direct-to-artist payments. This innovative program will give artists access to an additional payment stream, so they can benefit directly from their biggest fans on TIDAL. Each month, a percentage of HiFi Plus subscribers' membership fees will be directed towards their top streamed artist, which they will see in their activity feed. This direct-to-artist payment is in addition to their streaming royalties.
Fan-centered royalties: Starting in 2022, TIDAL is taking a different approach on royalties. In this new model, royalties attributed to HiFi Plus subscribers will not be aggregated. Rather, royalties will be paid based on the actual streaming activity of individual HiFi Plus subscribers as opposed to the industry accepted method of aggregating streams, empowering fans to play a larger role in the success of their favorite artists.
As mentioned earlier, artists will only benefit from subscribers who get the top-tier HiFi Plus plan. And, of course, Tidal will use its services like Square, Cash App, and PayPal to "ensure quick and seamless payouts to artists globally.