TIDAL is a New York-based music streaming service.
Available in 56 countries, TIDAL has more than 70 million songs and 250,000 high quality videos in its catalog, along with original video series, podcasts and thousands of playlists.
TIDAL is available in premium and HiFi tiers, recording formats include Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), Sony’s 360 Reality Audio recordings, and Dolby Atmos Music.
The platform is led by CEO Richard Sanders, while Lior Tibon acts as the company’s Chief Operating Officer.
The newest incarnation of TIDAL launched in 2015 after JayZ-led Project Panther Bidco acquired the platform from Aspiro for $50 million.
Acquisition by Project Panther Bidco
TIDAL was launched in 2010 across Scandinavia under its original name of WimP, offering both a standard and hi-def audio package.
The platform’s former parent company Aspiro changed WimP’s name to TIDAL in March 2015 ahead of is acquisition by Project Panther Bidco, led by Jay Z.
In addition to Jay Z, the company announced that its owners included 16 of the biggest artists in the world, introduced at a press conference in New York at the end of March 2015.
Reports at the time suggested that Tidal’s artist owners were each given 3% equity in the company.
As of today according to the streaming platform’s website, Tidal’s artist owners include Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Regine Chassagne, Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Daft Punk, Damian Marley, deadmau5, Indochine, J. Cole, Jack White, Jason Aldean, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, T.I. and Usher.
Financial results
TIDAL’s revenues grew 13.1% in 2019, according to a financial document filed by parent company Project Panther Bidco in the UK.
The company’s total revenue in 2019 was $166.9m, but represented a slowing on the 26.4% rise the service saw in 2018.
TIDAL posted an annual operating loss in 2019 of $55.3m (see below), which represented an increase in operating loss of 50.6% from the $36.7m figure posted by the company in 2018.
Controversy
In 2018, a report by Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv suggested that the accounts of TIDAL subscribers were manipulated in 2016 to falsely bulk up streaming numbers allocated to Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
The company strongly denied the claims and enlisted an “independent, third party cyber-security firm” to investigate a potential data breach at the company.
In January 201,9 Dagens Næringsliv revealed that Norway’s National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim) had begun an investigation into potential ‘fake streams’ at TIDAL.Music Business Worldwide