Birmingham based Home Automation specialist Install Automation Ltd is delighted to announce their support for the new Tidal streaming service.Scandinavian music streaming service Tidal has announced that it will launch in the UK and US today, offering 25m tracks in lossless quality for £19.99 a month. It is being targeted towards serious music fans who want high-quality sound, and includes curated playlists, 75,000 HD music videos and articles by music journalists as extra content to lure them in. The service has been available in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland for some time, but is now making an aggressive push for new markets.
Tidal has distribution agreements signed with all of the major labels, including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. But it has also been working with many independent labels to cater to niche tastes too.
Currently it offers more than 25m music tracks in lossless quality; a FLAC format streamed at 1,411kbps. The company claims that this rivals CD quality. For comparison, Spotify uses just 96kbps streaming on mobile, 160kbps on desktop and 320kbps for “Premium subscribers”, although these are in the Ogg Vorbis format so not directly comparable. However, Spotify is also free for those who choose to live with adverts, or £9.99 a month without them – half the price of Tidal. Time will tell whether there is demand for higher quality at a higher price.
The service is available across iOS and Android devices and desktop PCs and Macs, but also network players such as Sonos. Users are also able to download high-quality files to their device to listen to later, allowing you to use the service away from fast internet connections.
“We are delighted that TIDAL has launched and that music lovers can now appreciate music the way it is meant to sound,” said TIDAL CEO Andy Chen. “But the music is just one part of the service. The expert editorial educates, entertains and enriches the music experience whilst the music videos complement the music perfectly. We are sure that TIDAL will quickly become the music streaming service of choice for all who appreciate high quality at every level.”