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Kanye West reportedly quits Tidal over money dispute
Kanye West has been one of Tidal's biggest champions: he joined the company the moment Jay-Z relaunched its service, and The Life of Pablo was one of the streaming music service's largest (if temporary) exclusives. However, it appears that the relationship has... soured. TMZ sources claim that Kanye has left the company over a payment squabble involving both Life of Pablo and music videos. It's reportedly a messy dispute, and certainly not what Tidal wanted in an already tumultuous period for the business.
Lawsuit claims Sprint caused RadioShack’s latest bankruptcy
In 2015, RadioShack filed for bankruptcy and shortly thereafter co-branded around 1,400 of its remaining stores with Sprint. Just over two years later, RadioShack has filed for bankruptcy again and a group of its creditors says it's largely Sprint's fault.
Don't bother signing up for Tidal now to get that Jay-Z album
As promised, Jay-Z dropped his new 4:44 album earlier today on Tidal, but you won't be able to stream it if you subscribed recently. As the Verge reported earlier, and Pitchfork confirmed by trying to sign up, Tidal users who enrolled after June 26th won't get access to the album. Instead, you'll get a message saying "Jay-Z 4:44 is only accessible to Sprint/Tidal customers and all Tidal accounts established prior to June 26th during the exclusive period."
Tidal’s ‘On Air’ podcast network features five exclusive shows
Jay Z's forthcoming album isn't the only new content coming to Tidal this month. The streaming music site announced Tuesday that it is following the lead of Google Play, Deezer, and Spotify and now offering podcasts to its subscribers.
Jay Z’s ‘4:44’ album will be another Tidal exclusive
As you'd expect from the guy that owns Tidal, Jay Z is releasing a new album called 4:44 on June 30th, exclusively on ... Tidal. Also getting in on the action is Sprint, the US carrier that acquired a 33 percent chunk of Tidal earlier this year for $200 million. It will offer customers a six month Tidal HiFi trial and free access to the album, the first in a series of exclusives. "Jay Z is a global icon and we're giving customers and incredible opportunity to be among the first to experience his new album 4:44," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure in a statement.
Taylor Swift is getting back together with Spotify
Taylor Swift must have shaken off any bad blood left between her and Spotify, because you'll soon be able to listen to her music on the service again. In fact, you'll be able to access her entire back catalog not just on Spotify, but also on every existing streaming service when the clock strikes midnight on June 9th. Swift's management team has announced on Twitter that she came to the decision to thank her fans and to celebrate 1989 selling over 10 million copies across the globe.
Sprint pushes Tidal again with six months of free HiFi streaming
We've been wondering why Sprint bought a third of music streaming service, Tidal. While the respective companies didn't discuss details at the time, the team-up is starting to make a bit more sense. Sprint is currently offering all of its customers six months of Tidal's HiFi top of the line streaming tier for no extra charge. Tidal usually charges $20 per month in the US for this service.
Tidal burns through its third CEO in two years
Yet another Tidal CEO is out. Jeff Toig, who took over the position from interim CEO Peter Tonstad in 2016, has reportedly left the company. Which means Tidal is now looking for its fourth chief executive in two years.
Jay Z's albums are disappearing from Apple Music and Spotify
If you were hoping to make Jay Z's "Lucifer" part of your "getting ready to go out" playlist tonight that could be tricky depending on the streaming service you use. That's because as MacRumors and 9to5Mac noticed, Beyoncé's husband has started pulling his solo catalog from the likes of Apple Music and Spotify in favor of his Tidal service. As of press time, Spotify still had singles and his collaboration with R. Kelly Unfinished Business on offer, but a bulk of Shawn Carter's albums are missing. A Spotify spokesperson confirmed the move, saying that "some of his catalog has been removed at the request of the artist."
Spotify is close to offering lossless-quality music
Tidal's lossless-quality music streaming was its original selling point over big name rivals, but it might not have that advantage for much longer. Both The Verge sources and Reddit members have discovered that Spotify is prepping its own lossless offering, Spotify Hi-Fi. Much like with Tidal, paying $20 per month would give you audio befitting your premium headphones. There's no word as to when Hi-Fi would arrive -- Spotify isn't commenting beyond acknowledging that it's "always testing new products." However, it certainly appears to be getting close.
Spotify gets into podcasting with three music-themed shows
Spotify dipped its toes into podcasting in 2015 by adding pre-existing programs to its lineup. Now it's getting into content creation and rolling out its own shows. The company is launching three original podcasts, and it says that's just the start.
After Math: Baby come back
This was a week of many happy returns. Stanford students brought back 5,000 year old Chinese beer, Prince's catalog has reappeared on streaming services not owned by Jay Z and a pair of classic Hot Wheels cars are coming out of retirement to make their Rocket League debut. Numbers, because how else will we know how long you've been gone?
The Engadget Podcast Ep 26: The Sounds of Science
Managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Nathan Ingraham join host Terrence O'Brien on the latest episode. First Dana and Nathan face off in the latest installment of Flame Wars, tackling the latest news around Google Voice, struggling streaming service Tidal and the Note 7. Then all three will try to unravel the first week of Donald Trump's presidency and what it means for science in particular.
Why is Sprint throwing money at Tidal?
Following reports last week that Tidal hasn't been honest about its subscriber numbers, Sprint kicked off the week by announcing that it's buying a third of the streaming service. It's no secret that Tidal has struggled to gain any ground on Apple Music and Spotify, even with a portfolio of artist exclusives. The company reportedly has financial issues to contend with as well, so a big influx of cash likely made the decision easy for Jay Z. However, there are no obvious benefits for Sprint.
Sprint buys a 33 percent stake in Tidal's music service (updated)
Well, this was somewhat unexpected. Sprint just bought a 33 percent stake in Tidal, giving the carrier a significant (though not controlling) influence over Jay Z's streaming music service. They're not discussing the terms of the partnership, but it'll take Tidal's fondness for exclusives one step further. Tidal will offer exclusive content that will only be available to Sprint subscribers -- yes, even being a loyal listener won't be enough. you'll hear more details on offers and promos "soon," Sprint says.
Is Tidal being honest about its subscriber numbers?
It's no secret that Tidal is well behind the likes of Spotify and Apple Music when it comes to subscriber numbers. A report today from Dagens Næringsliv indicates that the Jay Z-led streaming service is even further behind than it's admitting. The Norwegian newspaper says it reviewed internal documents, including reports on payments to record labels, that show a big discrepancy between what the company was publicizing and the actual subscriber totals.
Tidal now has an editing tool for tempo and song length
Tidal debuted its Masters feature which offers near studio-quality sound earlier this month. Now the streaming service is offering users a way to edit tracks. While playing a song in the Tidal app, you can change the length and speed with the new Track Edit feature from the options menu. To make any tempo adjustments, you will need to select a segment of a song before you can do so. The tool also allows you to make changes to how the song fades in/out.
Tidal now offers studio-quality 'Master' audio
It's easy to forget in the Jay Z era, but Tidal's original marquee feature was its above-average audio quality, not its many exclusives -- this was your service if your headphones were too good to be sullied with low-bitrate streaming. Tidal hasn't forgotten, however. It's stepping things up with Masters, which use MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) technology to promise studio-grade sound. If you're the sort who wants to get as close to the sound booth as possible, this may be your best choice right now.
Neil Young's Pono will launch an adaptive bitrate streaming service
Neil Young could be about to launch the most interesting streaming service to come along in a long while. No, really. Young recently spoke at length with Rolling Stone's Music Now podcast. While mostly discussing music, he also divulged his future plans for Pono. Launched in 2014 on Kickstarter as a high-resolution music player and download service, Pono captured the imagination of select audiophiles and not many others. Its total sales were in the tens of thousands as of last year, and its download service is in hiatus after the company running it was acquired. Now, Young's company is planning a streaming service. What's interesting about it is not the fact that it's promising to stream 192kHz, 24-bit resolution audio. Although it totally is. No, what's interesting is that it's promising high-quality adaptive bitrate streaming, which would be a first for a streaming service. See, when you load up your music app of choice, you typically pick a bitrate for downloads, and a bitrate for streaming. In Spotify, for example, you can choose from anywhere between 96kbps and 320kbps bitrates for streaming and downloads. What Pono is proposing is to do away with those designations.
Prince estate sues Roc Nation over Tidal streaming rights
Jay Z debuted his version of Tidal after buying the streaming service for $56 million last year. In the months since he took over, the company has struggled to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music despite a list of high-profile exclusive releases. Now Tidal is locked in a legal battle with Prince's estate. The late artist's label and publishing businesses are suing Jay Z's Roc Nation over the music subscription service's streaming of Prince's entire catalog.
