Beyonce and Madonna launch streaming service
Rihanna's official Twitter page teased the launch.
Hold the phone: Madonna, Rihanna, Jay Z, Beyonce, Daft Punk and Kanye West have gone into business together.
• Should you buy into the HD audio revolution?
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No, it’s not to create the most star-studden celebrity fragrance ever (although that would be interesting) – the group have launched their own music streaming service.
Tidal, a Scandianvian-designed high-quality audio streaming service, will act as a rival to other services like Pandora or Spotify.
L-R: Usher, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Deadmau5, Kanye West, JAY Z, and J. Cole.
Jay Z purchased the service in January and held a glitzy event in New York on Tuesday to officially launch the product.
In attendance were some of the industry’s biggest names, including rocker Jack White, DJs Deadmau5 and Daft Punk, Madonna, Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Usher, Calvin Harris and members of The Arcade Fire – all of whom have signed on as owners.
L-R: Jason Aldean, Jack White, Daft Punk, Beyonce, Regine Chassagne, Win Butler, and Alicia Keys.
The launch followed an intense social media marketing campaign, which involved all owners changing their Twitter profile picture to a blue square.
Rihanna’s official Twitter page teased the launch.
The service will cost US$9.99 a month for standard sound quality and AU$23.99 a month for Lossless High Fidelity sound quality and offers a 30-day free trial before you commit.
Comparatively, Spotify has a free service or costs AU$11.99 a month for the premium option. Other streaming services such as Pandora, Soundcloud and iTunes Radio also have paid and free options.
Tidal also offers a simple A or B test to determine whether or not you can actually tell the difference between regular audio and and high-quality lossless audio. You can do the test here.
Tidal is available on computers, smartphones and tablets.
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