[divider]PAYING FOR MUSIC MEANS CARING ABOUT ARTISTS[/divider]
A thought that Tidal needs to hit home with their audience, and Jay Z made perfectly clear he stands with, is that if you use and enjoy free music, you don’t care about the artists. In order for Tidal to have the impact for artists they want, and for the higher royalty percentages to make a difference, fans and music consumers will have to agree. This fact isn’t lost on Tidal, and they’re confident in their ability to reach a piece of the market-share that may not even exist.
When we look at the data, the data says that students don’t really care about paying for streaming. I actually don’t believe that, necessarily… I think in fact that a lot of [music fans] have a deeper emotional connection with music than any data says. – Schlogel
Tidal is putting the onus on the fan. Attempting to curb what they referred to as the ‘devaluing of music’, Jay Z and co. are calling out those who have illegally downloaded music. Hoping for people to see the value in what they’re doing, Jay Z said that people that are fans of free, aren’t fans of music.
We believe that if you consume music for free, and that’s what you want to do, that’s your choice. There are good and bad parts of a democratic society — do what you like to do. I’m just talking to people who care about musicians and the music they consume. That’s who we’re speaking to. – Jay Z
Regardless of who Tidal is speaking to, everyone is listening, for now. The big names got our attention, and while it may seem like they’re hedging their bets, it’s important to at least hear Tidal out. You can check out the full transcript of the Q&A via The Fader here. Let us know what you think of Tidal and of Jay-Z’s Q&A at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music! Comment below, on Facebook, or reply on Twitter!
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