If I had believed everything on the Internet, it seemed that I would never get to listen to Beyoncé’s newest album, “Lemonade.”
Long awaited, it officially hit airwaves Saturday night, but agents said it would only be available for stream and purchase from on — for forever.
The same goes for the late Prince’s entire collection of songs, which per his choice will remain exclusive to Tidal.
Tidal is the newest digital music platform to make waves in the industry.
The company, bought by Jay-Z and other high-profile artists, proudly names the included artists’ intentions as its primary goal. It offers two different high-quality audio streaming levels (HiFi sound), unique curation and exclusive releases.
Tidal’s “premium” platform is also highlighted by the service’s control of mega releases.
In it’s own right, each of the many streaming providers seem to have grasped hold onto its own group of key artists.
When Kanye West decided to push the boundaries of traditional music release, he slowly streamed different versions of his album. After reworking it multiple times between digital releases, he finally dropped it solely via Tidal.
However, two months after its Tidal release, “The Life Of Pablo” was released elsewhere. This was a shock, as in February, West insisted the digital work would never grace the collections of the other services.
Rihanna’s “ANTI” was also a Tidal tease, released on other services only after a significant wait time.
“Lemonade,” too, was a unique release experiment. I can’t review the album, as I haven’t listened to it, but it supposedly pushes the boundaries of sly social media marketing, stunning visual musical documentaries and storytelling.
It is a deep shame for such an exciting release to be held exclusive by a single service.
In fact, the musical turf wars seemed to have caused such noise that less than two days after the Tidal release, “Lemonade” is now officially available for purchase on iTunes, though not for stream on Apple Music; the album can still only be streamed on Tidal.
Tidal is in rough waters, with distrust in the service growing as these multiple exclusivity debacles have unfolded.
Competing with Tidal, Apple Music comes from the point-of-view on the other side of the music business as an attempt to commandeer the streaming space.
It boasts its own huge backing of Apple fans, as well as a foothold of unique pre-releases and industry content.
These two services definitely butt heads and often leave more plebian services such as Spotify in the dust.
If you want to stream both Beyonce’s “Lemonade,” only on Tidal, which starts at $4.99 a month and Taylor Swift’s “1989,” only on Apple Music, $9.99 a month, you would have to pay combined almost $15. You cannot listen to the latest releases of either artist on Spotify.
Streaming as a whole, in its various forms ranging from radio-type services such as Pandora to the virtually free-range Spotify and SoundCloud, has virtually overhauled the physical music industry.
The beginning of the revolution started at the turn of the century with Napster and became fully commercialized through iTunes and other competitors along the way.
Long gone are the days of boomboxes or record stores on every corner.
When digital first hit the music world, much of the industry still operated as usual. Albums were still sold, leaks were rare and people owned a physical collection of their own audio appreciation. The top charts were based on record sales, and there was little debate.
Billboard’s sales charts determine if albums receive sales certifications such as gold, platinum or diamond, and the music database published the numbers for the top weekly charts.
Now, the lines are blurred. Robin Thicke, luckily, can still be played on Spotify.
If an artist’s music is only released through a single service, never in a physical disc form, and only reaching premium listeners, traditional chart toppers such as Beyoncé and Rihanna may face an impossible battle to score a No. 1 hit.
The only thing clear about the music industry is how it has become extremely complex and competitive, — which only confuses consumers further.
Each major service hopes to spread music to the greater population, but exclusivity and fragmentation could potentially destroy the music industry rather than build it up.
Listeners must choose to support either the big artists or the small ones, in addition to considering the array of budget options.
The rift keeps growing deeper with each week’s drama of releases.
I’m still left to only hope that given her time, Beyoncé will let people have some of her “Lemonade,” even if they aren’t willing to pay to surf the Tidal waves.
Rachel can be reached at intrigue@ThePlainsman.com.
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