Not so fast in this very special case. Here are ...
5 REASONS WHY TIDAL IS BOTH UNIQUE -- AND A FORCE TO BE RECOGNIZED -- FROM DAY 1:
(1) Jay Z -- period, full stop. HE is a force. The force is with him. And just look at his Jedi mind tricks ... his ability to assemble the star power (from all major music genres) on the stage with him at Monday's launch. Imagine the logistics of doing just that alone with all the touring, recording, globe-trotting ... even Madge was there! ... which takes me to reason 2,
(2) United Artists. Remember that iconic major movie company? Hollywood legends Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, among others, financed and birthed that movie company nearly 100 years ago for the same fundamental reason launching the Tidal wave (had to say it at least once) -- i.e., control. Star power drove United Artists' success back then. And, imagine the potential power of the stars here, one century later, to drive magnified success in this new golden age of social media and with their individual mega-massive social followings? Millions upon tens of millions upon hundreds of millions of frenzied followers banded together -- and for the same music "cause." The United Artist precedent and potential is here. And, the artists here are invested (literally!) in Tidal's success and will gladly feed Tidal with exclusive, differentiated content (music, videos, fan interaction, real-world non-virtual and tangible fan experiences) -- content not available anyplace else -- in a case of what Jack Black called "stick-it-to-the-man" in the movie School of Rock. They will also push "the man" (the labels) hard for more artist-friendly economics (and likely share those friendlier economics with all participating artists) ... which takes me to reason 3,
(3) Differentiated User Content & Experience. Think of the story here -- and think of the word "experience" as I lay it out (because consumers pay for "experiences"). First, you have a slick UI (I have played with the mobile version, which immediately reminded me of the look, ease and simplicity that I immediately saw when I first tried Vessel -- another new digital media iconoclast that is focused on video and hell-bent on disrupting YouTube much in the same way that Tidal is dead set on disrupting Spotify). Second, you have (or will have) a deep pool of differentiated exclusive content (as I write in Reason (2) above). And -- contrary to the thinking of some more tech-driven streaming services (Spotify calls itself a technology-first company) -- content (and artist relationships) matter, especially to super-fans. They may not necessarily pay more just to access the same music they can find elsewhere. BUT (and this is a critical "but"), they absolutely will pay to get closer to Jay Z and other artists that matter to them individually -- and for the chance to share in experiences not available anyplace else. THAT too is content my friends! It's just a broader definition of it. Third, you have the much ballyhooed high fidelity experience -- which is both real -- and a great marketing story for both users and artists (Neil Young anyone?). A critical mass of consumers will pay more for quality (Apple products, anyone?) ... which takes me to reason 4,
(4) Tidal Is Beats-ing Apple at Its Own Game. (I kinda' smirk as I write that caption ... forgive me, but one must enjoy simple pleasures!). As I wrote previously when Apple first bought Beats for $3 billion, two key reasons were Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine (and the deep artist cred and relationships they brought to Apple, which is still fundamentally a hardware/tech DNA-based company despite its media trappings). It is that artist visibility, cred, stamp of approval, and overall "cool" that immediately differentiated Apple's coming-soon Beats Music service from the other streaming behemoths. Well, lookie lookie here. Jay-Z paid $56 million for Tidal's "Aspire" platform -- and certainly millions more to spruce it up -- but its star power shines significantly more brightly right here right now. Cupertino is cringing. It's not quite the Dre Day that the good Dr. hoped for ... which brings me to reason 5,
(5) Other Mega-Mobile Players Will Stand Up, Take Notice & Partner with Tidal. Apple has Beats Music. Its business model is to deploy Beats Music as the Trojan Horse to drive incremental and primarily mobile hardware sales (iPhones and iPads) -- its leviathan revenue stream. Countless other mega-companies -- who live in Apple's mobile "space" (and compete directly with the Apple machine) -- need to play that same "music-as-Trojan-Horse" game to fuel their own decidedly non-media core business models. And, that means significant and global distribution partnerships await to propagate Tidal's wave (okay, I said it twice!). Sprint is only the first. Stay tuned for more -- including both wireless operators (like Sprint) and hardware/handset companies (like Samsung, ultimately in lieu of Milk Music?) -- who become smitten by Tidal's sexy story.
To be clear, I am not saying that Tidal will sweep over and drown the competition -- or even "win" and be profitable as a stand-alone business (although many other definitions of "winning" come into play for artists with Tidal, as I allude to above). Other massive players already exist -- Spotify, Pandora, and Apple's coming re-imagined Beats Music.
But, let's be clear. I am saying this (and I ain't April "foo foo foo foolin'" when I say it).
Tidal is real.
Tidal is changing the game.
Tidal is damn interesting ....