The war field seems to be getting alive once again. After the big offer Pandora made to Rdio in order to buy its assets for $75 million in cash last year, the eyes have turned now to Spotify presenting it as an enemy of the whole music industry. But why is that? Spotify has a free-tier streaming service that no one else offers. This is a major problem that most artists hate. Nowadays, Spotify has 30 million paying subscribers (out of 100 million total users). But, it became clear to the music labels that Spotify’s 25 percent conversion rate from free users to paid was too good to get rid of.
That’s why Apple wants to take a big bite on Tidal as Spotify declared as the top streaming service for now. Tidal is an artist-owned coalition. The founding Tidal artists are Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire (Win Butler and Regine Chassagne), Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Chris Martin, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J. Cole, Kanye West, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Shawn “JAY Z” Carter and Usher. This is not the best streaming service out there but, it acquired many exclusives from big names of the music industry, for example: Beyoncé’s new album “Lemonade”.
Apple Music has proven itself to be artist-friendly in many ways. There were deals with Drake, Taylor Swift, and Chance the Rapper and Apple funds everything from concerts, to music videos and tours. But, with Tidal in Apple’s side, will make Apple Music even more powerful in many ways.
Why the big bite could work?
1. All exclusive streaming deals come under a single streaming service: Apple Music.
2. Jay Z (founder of Tidal) wanted to get artists paid more. So, Apple can make his dream come true.
3. Apple Music will become the most artist-friendly service and may achieve to take the Spotify out of the track.
4. Tidal has about 4 million paying subscribers and Apple Music has 15 million. Apple should be able then to persuade many of them to come over.
5. Apple will have Jay-Z as the “man in the middle” for every deal with any artist out there.
6. Apple Music would take Tidal off the market as a competitor for artist exclusives. This means Apple wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to stream the new Beyoncé album, for example.
But do we all want this to happen? I’m personally a free-tier user of Spotify and a big fan of it. What about the freedom in listening to anything? Following your favorite artists and staying up-to-date about their new albums and songs for free. Really? Who want to pay subscriptions just to listen music! Do we want this to happen? Transforming the free-tier industry into a paid one may walk many of the artist’s fans away, as many of them may not have the ability and comfortness to pay monthly subscriptions during a global crisis period just to listen music! Come on guys, think wisely. If free-tier industry dies it should be only a drawback for the music industry in general as it’s not certain if the free-tier users want to start paying subscriptions. Some of the subscriptions are logical as they offer really cool features and stuff, but why free-tier has to die? This is ridiculous!