Tidal on Trial
What I observed using Tidal for the last year
In April of 2024, I took a courageous leap of faith and plunged headfirst into an unknown and dark world. I deactivated my Spotify account and downloaded Tidal. This was no small decision, as I'm sure many can relate; Spotify was basically my first-born child. Every playlist and song I listened to since 2016 was on there. I had over 30 playlists and roughly 4,000 songs saved. So why did I do it? First and foremost, curiosity. Tidal came on my radar a little less than two years ago, and I always thought it would be interesting to try out another platform. For some context, Tidal was launched in 2014 by Jay-Z, and it prides itself on sound quality, artist payment, and exclusive content. Everyone I knew used Spotify or Apple Music, and that really made me wonder what else was out there. Were we all missing something? Spotify was so quickly adopted into the mainstream it seemed almost ridiculous to question it, which was my exact reason for deactivation. I'm not trying to be a pick me, I promise I don't have a need to be different and unique, but it became clear to me that everyone was settled on Spotify and there were still some things that didn't sit right with me. That brings me to my second reason, which was the biggest reason I chose Tidal for my experiment. How much, or should I say how little, artists are being paid per stream. In general, across all streaming platforms, it's pretty sad the amount that artists are making. We are talking fractions of a cent here. Tidal is one of the highest paying streaming services, and I wanted my money to go to a service that values the artist. I didn't have any major complaints with Spotify, besides the artist payout. It was easy to find new music, Spotify wrapped was always exciting, and it was so easy to see artist information (streams, followers, top songs, etc.) I just wanted a change.
After doing basically no research on Tidal's mobile platform, I cancelled Spotify and downloaded the Tidal app to find out first-hand what it would be like to switch services. Here's my analysis of the last year. I used some random website to transfer a few of my Spotify playlists to Tidal, just so I wouldn't have to start completely from scratch. In the first few weeks, I immediately liked it. The sound quality was really good, and it was fun to have a clean slate. It felt like I scrubbed my whole music world clean. The literal visuals of the app are very similar to Spotify, so it wasn't a huge adjustment. It's not the most organized; sometimes things are in random places, and you have to scroll or fiddle around to find them. But other than that, it was easy to adopt. I also found myself enjoying a lot of the features. Instead of a yearly wrap up, Tidal has a personal stats section where you can see your top artists from month to month. It felt like a quicker reward for someone who is a chronic dopamine chaser. It has a monthly countdown and tells you how many times you streamed an artist in the 30/31 days. Like Spotify, Tidal creates mixes and playlists for you as well as suggests albums based on the ones you like. I've gotten into the habit of liking a bunch of albums for later listening, and it's really easy to access your saved music. It's also so easy to find cool new artists. As someone who actively seeks out new artists and participates heavily in New Music Friday, Tidal is perfect for that. There is a section that updates weekly with new releases. Now for the things that are not my favorite. You can't add a cover photo for the playlists, which is one of my biggest complaints, but I acknowledge that is purely aesthetic. Another small design flaw is the artist profiles; they aren't as clear or established as they are on Spotify. Some artists have no profile photo, or their music is mixed with another artist who uses the same name. Also, since Tidal isn't as popular, there is no way to know if the top suggested songs are really the top songs by an artist. Streams are not provided. Sometimes, if you're listening and exit out of the app, it'll lose your place in the queue and jump back a few songs; that is also slightly irritating. In my opinion, the company needs to hire someone to polish up some small details, and then it would be perfect. The overall experience is awesome; it makes me feel less guilty about artist compensation, and the sound quality is top notch. Aside from the little things, I would still recommend it, and I'm definitely a Tidal girl now.
Written by Alexa Marie
Edited by David Nathaniel