Jay Z launches Tidal – first artist-owned digital-music service – to compete with Spotify, Pandora

Jay Z, real name – Shawn Carter, has launched a new music streaming service called Tidal. He did this on Monday along with co-owners – Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire, Beyoncé, Calvin Harris (via satellite), Chris Martin (via satellite), Daft Punk, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J. Cole, Kanye West, Deadmau5, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Usher. This is the first artist-owned digital-music service.

With this first artist-owned digital music service, it seems that the artists are saying they do not want to rely on the likes of Spotify, Pandora to sell their music. The musicians have complained ever so often that they are not adequately compensated by the music streaming companies.

According to Alicia Keys, “We want to create a better service and a better experience for both fans and artists.”  “We believe that it is in everyone’s interests — fans, artists and the industry as a whole — to preserve the value of music, and to ensure a healthy and robust industry for years to come.”

The ad-free, standard-audio version (Tidal Premium) will cost $9.99 per month while the high-def audio version (Tidal HiFi) will be $19.99 per month. Both tiers are free to try out for 30 days.

Tidal will provide a library of more than 25 million tracks, 75,000 music videos and curated editorial articles. The service is available across iOS and Android devices, as well as in Web browsers and desktop players, available in the U.S. and 30 other countries at launch.

Forbes thinks that Jay Z’s proposition is clear: get a critical mass of elite artists together, and maybe, just maybe, musicians can finally create the dominant means of distribution for their work on their own.

We will all wait to see the impact of this new initiative

Image Credits: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images