Tidal extends some free trials by 30 days so listeners can hear updated Kanye West album
In an unusual move, streaming music service Tidal is extending the free trials of some listeners by 30 days so they can hear the updated version of Kanye West's rap album The Life of Pablo.
People who signed up for a recent trial are getting notifications via email, The Verge said on Wednesday. The messages explain that people can hear things like the new version of "Wolves," and "Fade," which Tidal claims is a track previously absent from the album but has actually been around since the beginning.
The record has also been updated in other ways though, some examples being changes to "Famous," and the addition of "Frank's Track," previously just the outro of "Wolves."
The Life of Pablo remains a Tidal exclusive, unavailable on services like Apple Music or Spotify. It was first launched on Feb. 14, and its exclusivity briefly caused the Tidal iOS app to soar to the top of App Store download charts. At the moment, Tidal is fifth on the list of the highest-grossing iPhone apps.
Tidal has otherwise struggled to grow its subscriber base, despite a number of exclusives. Aside from these, the service's main selling points are better royalty payments to artists and a $19.99 "HiFi" plan with lossless audio. The standard $9.99 tier offers streaming at either 96 or 320 kilobits per second.
People who signed up for a recent trial are getting notifications via email, The Verge said on Wednesday. The messages explain that people can hear things like the new version of "Wolves," and "Fade," which Tidal claims is a track previously absent from the album but has actually been around since the beginning.
The record has also been updated in other ways though, some examples being changes to "Famous," and the addition of "Frank's Track," previously just the outro of "Wolves."
The Life of Pablo remains a Tidal exclusive, unavailable on services like Apple Music or Spotify. It was first launched on Feb. 14, and its exclusivity briefly caused the Tidal iOS app to soar to the top of App Store download charts. At the moment, Tidal is fifth on the list of the highest-grossing iPhone apps.
Tidal has otherwise struggled to grow its subscriber base, despite a number of exclusives. Aside from these, the service's main selling points are better royalty payments to artists and a $19.99 "HiFi" plan with lossless audio. The standard $9.99 tier offers streaming at either 96 or 320 kilobits per second.
Comments
Seriously though, I think Kanye's a complete idiot. A lot of the stuff he says makes absolutely no sense, and the little that does make sense is just absurd.
BUT ...
I have to admit to liking his music. I was listening to "The College Dropout" just last night, in fact.
concerning this extension, it seems like Tidal is trying to distort its subscription numbers since they have been disappointing to investors. Using a revision to Kanye’s album to extend the trial period in hopes that more people will sign up is a thinly veiled attempt to right a sinking ship.
After watching the digital music industry for the past 15 years, it’s clear that the deck is stacked in favor of the RIAA. Any new company foolish enough to think it can turn a healthy profit playing music when the industry is already saturated with Pandora, Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Google Play needs this wake up call. Those that survived have deep pockets and/or a massive installed base. 2 years ago, there were 13+ streaming services. Now 1/3 of those have either shut down or have been acquired. Sure Tidal offers lossless, but at $240/year, I doubt most people who’d like it would be willing to pay for it. Even $120/year for lossless is not a good deal for most consumers when the average american’s yearly entertainment budget is less than $1200. For comparison: for $240/year I can subscribe to both Netflix & Hulu, while still streaming for free on Pandora, Last.FM or Bandcamp.
I’m not sure if he’s completely surrounded himself with “yes”-men or if he’s completely high (or a combo of both), but no matter how talented someone is in one area, it doesn’t mean they’re also good in other areas. Expertise in one area, doesn’t mean expertise in other areas—even those closely related.
But people who don’t like to think seem to want icons to listen to. Lacking a king or queen, we’ve elevated celebrities to those roles, no matter what their beliefs. Celebrities who say things that would be considered batshit crazy coming from anyone else influence their less intelligent fans into believing their uninformed opinions. But I imagine most people who visit this site probably don’t fall into this category.
some dissapointed,
in the end,
nothing of value was lost,
or achieved."
Quote, me.