After 1 year, Tidal reaches 3M paid subscribers, well behind Apple Music's 11M

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
Subscription music streaming service Tidal announced Tuesday that it has 3 million paid subscribers who signed on in its first year of availability, a number that lags behind the likes of Apple Music and Spotify.




Apple Music, meanwhile, reached the 12 million member mark in January, just six months after it debuted. It took just a month for Apple to add another million, announcing it had reached the 11 million mark in February.

Spotify, meanwhile, said it had nearly 30 million subscribers as of February. While different tiers and plans are available, all three generally offer the same $10-per-month basic plans for unlimited streaming.

In announcing its subscriber count on Tuesday, Tidal boasted of its exclusive content debuts, including "Formation" by Beyonce, "The Life of Pablo" by Kanye West and "ANTI" by Rihanna. The service also includes exclusive video content, such as West's "Yeezy Season 3" fashion show, which was viewed by more than 23 million people.

While Tidal lags behind Apple Music and Spotify, Tuesday's announcement does suggest that subscriber growth is at least accelerating -- the service held a Jay-Z concert last October to celebrate its one-millionth paid subscriber.

Though it originally launched in October 2014, Tidal was later bought by Jay-Z and relaunched in March 2015, with part of its new mission statement being that the service would be artist-friendly and pay higher royalties than its competitors.

In a standout from its competitors, Tidal offers a unique $20 tier with lossless audio. Another distinguishing aspect is that the service pays higher royalties than its competitors, making it more artist-friendly.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    scxfanscxfan Posts: 8member
    I am surprised it has 3 million users frankly.
    jbdragonericthehalfbeetdknoxlostkiwi
  • Reply 2 of 34
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Is there any data suggesting tidal pays higher royalties than Apple Music?
    edited March 2016
  • Reply 3 of 34
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    sog35 said:
    3 million users?

    Don't believe it at all. And really there is nothing stopping them from lying since they are not a publicly traded company.

    How do we know Apple isn't lying? Where is the proof that they have 11m subs besides Apple's word? It's OK to have competition in every sector and it's not always about Apple has to win at everything.
    singularity
  • Reply 4 of 34
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,275member
    cali said:
    Is there any data suggesting tidal pays higher royalties than Apple Music?
    Previous report have suggested that Tidal pays *slightly* better than Apple Music, which in turn pays better than any other streaming service. We're talking pennies per million plays difference between Tidal and Apple Music, but it is slightly higher. Actually buying music from the Apple Store pays better than any streaming service by a country mile, however. So if you hear an artist you really like, add it to your permanent collection by buying it. You'll thank me for this advice when the day comes that you cut the subscription, either to save money or because of lost interest or whatever. The great songs you heard and bought will still be yours to enjoy.
    calitdknoxlostkiwikevin kee
  • Reply 5 of 34
    sog35 said:
    3 million users?

    Don't believe it at all. And really there is nothing stopping them from lying since they are not a publicly traded company.

    How do we know Apple isn't lying? Where is the proof that they have 11m subs besides Apple's word? It's OK to have competition in every sector and it's not always about Apple has to win at everything.
    As a publicly traded company I think they would run into SEC issues were they to lie about statistics in regards to revenue generated by their products. Obviously they don't have to report numbers in detail about a product, but once they go public with a number I'd think it would have to be verifiable.

    i find it interesting that the reported number is "3 million signed on" and not just "3 million paid users". This leaves open the door for a hypothetical "x amount cancelled" while still being truthful about the number of signups. 
    lollivertdknoxrobertwalterRayz2016kevin kee
  • Reply 6 of 34
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 752member
    sog35 said:
    3 million users?

    Don't believe it at all. And really there is nothing stopping them from lying since they are not a publicly traded company.

    How do we know Apple isn't lying? Where is the proof that they have 11m subs besides Apple's word? It's OK to have competition in every sector and it's not always about Apple has to win at everything.
    You should buy some Apple shares so that when Apple wins, it won't make you feel bad.
    edited March 2016 cali
  • Reply 7 of 34
    sog35 said:
    Another jewel from the press release:

    "The Life of Pablo —which was streamed 250 million times in the first 10 days "

    So if Tidal has 3 million users then the average user streamed the Life of Pablo 85 times in 10 days?  Sounds like more bullshet to me.



    Funny how numbers like this get accepted without any critical analysis.

    What does 250 million even mean? 250 million complete albums? 250 million songs?
    calitdknoxlostkiwi
  • Reply 8 of 34
    runbuhrunbuh Posts: 315member
    sog35 said:
    How do we know Apple isn't lying? Where is the proof that they have 11m subs besides Apple's word? It's OK to have competition in every sector and it's not always about Apple has to win at everything.
    If Apple lies then shareholders can sue and those responsible will go to jail.  The law is much more kind to private companies like Tidal.  Also a private company like Tidal does not report its financials publicly like Apple. It would be nearly impossible for anyone suing Tidal to prove they were lying.

    Basically Tidal is Jay-Z and his Rap friends.  Any doubts they would lie?

    Has Apple's current management ever lied about financials subscribers before?  Sorry I give Apple the benefit of the doubt not Jay-Z and Kayene West.  Hell West just got caught lying when he said his songs would never be on Apple Music.  
    So how do we know Apple isn't lying? Yes - the are penalties for lying, but who can prove that Apple isn't lying?
  • Reply 9 of 34
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    cali said:
    Is there any data suggesting tidal pays higher royalties than Apple Music?
    Maybe call Tay. No, not that Tay. The other Tay.
    calipscooter63
  • Reply 10 of 34
    koopkoop Posts: 337member
    Tidal is my favorite music service. Lossless audio is great, and they have a decent desktop/mobile app. I hope they stick around and continue to make more money.

  • Reply 11 of 34
    runbuh said:
    sog35 said:
    If Apple lies then shareholders can sue and those responsible will go to jail.  The law is much more kind to private companies like Tidal.  Also a private company like Tidal does not report its financials publicly like Apple. It would be nearly impossible for anyone suing Tidal to prove they were lying.

    Basically Tidal is Jay-Z and his Rap friends.  Any doubts they would lie?

    Has Apple's current management ever lied about financials subscribers before?  Sorry I give Apple the benefit of the doubt not Jay-Z and Kayene West.  Hell West just got caught lying when he said his songs would never be on Apple Music.  
    So how do we know Apple isn't lying? Yes - the are penalties for lying, but who can prove that Apple isn't lying?
    I suppose anything is possible but I highly doubt apple would risk the repercussions of falsifying records or lying about revenue publicly given the immense scrutiny they are constantly under for every move they make.

    I wouldn't doubt the preparation methods for take out or delivery for food that employees order will someday be scrutinized and apple pressured to investigate, correct and improve those vendors to meet some standard of carbon neutral sourcing. /s
  • Reply 12 of 34
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Jesus Christ leave that clown out of it.
  • Reply 13 of 34
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,243member
    I would like to know what percentage of Tidal subscribers pick the higher price tier for lossless audio. 
  • Reply 14 of 34
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    chasm said:
    cali said:
    Is there any data suggesting tidal pays higher royalties than Apple Music?
    Previous report have suggested that Tidal pays *slightly* better than Apple Music, which in turn pays better than any other streaming service. We're talking pennies per million plays difference between Tidal and Apple Music, but it is slightly higher. Actually buying music from the Apple Store pays better than any streaming service by a country mile, however. So if you hear an artist you really like, add it to your permanent collection by buying it. You'll thank me for this advice when the day comes that you cut the subscription, either to save money or because of lost interest or whatever. The great songs you heard and bought will still be yours to enjoy.

    ---

    With Apple Music you can Add any song to your library.  Yes, you'll lose those songs if you end your subscription, but let's do the math.  You could create a music library of many thousands of songs, create your own playlists against them, and continually add, update and delete from that library.  It's all 'rented' music that requires you continue to pay Apple's subscription fees, but how many songs would it take before you'd basically cover a lifetime subscription to Apple Music.  Let's say you've got 40 years left during which you'll want to listen to music on your terms.  At $120/year, 40 years of Apple Music will cost you about $5k.  At $1.29/song, that comes to less than 4000 songs.  And that's a static, unchanging library of 4000 songs.  With Apple Music you can have 4000 songs, or 6000, or 20,000 if you like, all organized into playlists, and as new music comes along, or your tastes change, you can keep that collection fresh.  So if you want to consume music the way we've been doing so before Apple Music came along, you can still do that, for a lifetime cost that comes in a lot cheaper taking advantage of the subscription rental model versus the buy and own model.  Plus, you pay over 40 years to have that 6000, or 20,000, song library right out the gate.  Always pay with tomorrow's dollars if possible and if not penalized for doing so.  Apple's got your back.
    calimac_dog
  • Reply 15 of 34
    So Apple reached 12M in January and then it went down to 11M in February? 
  • Reply 16 of 34
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    I just subscribed to Tidal Hifi free trial. Hifi is turned off by default and you have to go into settings to turn it on. They don't even inform you. Fail.

    I'm guessing it's their sneaky way of saving money. I bet most subscribers THINK they hear a difference when Hifi isn't even on.
  • Reply 17 of 34
    mknelsonmknelson Posts: 1,120member
    So Apple reached 12M in January and then it went down to 11M in February? 
    Heheh! "Apple Music, meanwhile, reached the 12 million member mark in January, just six months after it debuted. It took just a month for Apple to add another million, announcing it had reached the 11 million mark in February."

    12 + 1 = 11?

    Editor!
  • Reply 18 of 34
    koopkoop Posts: 337member
    cali said:
    I just subscribed to Tidal Hifi free trial. Hifi is turned off by default and you have to go into settings to turn it on. They don't even inform you. Fail.

    I'm guessing it's their sneaky way of saving money. I bet most subscribers THINK they hear a difference when Hifi isn't even on.

    It tells you right next to playback controls what it's playing at. It's not going to default to HIFI on your phone because it uses a high amount of data. It's the exact same setup for every music service including Spotify.
    edited March 2016
  • Reply 19 of 34
    I really liked my Tidal trial, esp lossless streaming to my Oppo BDP-105 over wi-fi at home.  But $20/mo is kinda steep for the amount I used it, I'd go back if the price comes down.
  • Reply 20 of 34
    sog35 said:
    Another jewel from the press release:

    "The Life of Pablo —which was streamed 250 million times in the first 10 days "

    So if Tidal has 3 million users then the average user streamed the Life of Pablo 85 times in 10 days?  Sounds like more bullshet to me.


    What am I missing here?  250 million divided by 10 days is 25 million per day.  25 million divided by 3 million is 8.33.  Did all 3 million users stream it an average of 8.33 times a day?  I highly doubt it, but I think your figure of 85 times a day is waaay off.

    Funny how numbers like this get accepted without any critical analysis.
    Indeed, it is funny how numbers that people want to see get accepted without any critical analysis.  See above.
    edited March 2016 singularity
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