Apple gives bad tidings to streaming music service Tidal
Last week, we learned that streaming music service Tidal, which launched on March 30, had fallen out of the iPhone top 700 apps. We recently reviewed Tidal, and found it to be an excellent service but a bit expensive for the highest tier of service. Recently, a report from Page Six indicated that part of Tidal’s woes on the App Store might be the result of Apple trying to sabotage its rival ahead of the rumored relaunch of Beats Music in June.
Music industry sources are claiming that Apple is deliberately interfering with its competitor, saying that Cupertino “deliberately took a long time to approve Tidal iOS app updates.” Tidal released an update to its Android app on April 15, but the update has yet to be approved for Apple’s repository. Of course, Apple’s review times for new apps and app updates is consistently inconsistent, but it does seem a bit fishy to take this long for an update.
In addition to the delays with app updates, Apple is also apparently declaring war on the artists who support Tidal. Page Six’s source said that Robert Kondrk, vice president of iTunes content, “told execs at Universal Music Group that Rihanna and other Tidal artists’ music would not be promoted as featured artists on iTunes if they put exclusive music out on Tidal.” There were also allegations of technical problems with Rihanna’s music on the iTunes Store after her single “American Oxygen” debuted on Tidal, but Cupertino has denied those claims.
As for the refusal to promote Tidal artists’ music on iTunes, industry sources say that’s not all that surprising.
That is normal operating procedure. If an artist chooses to market content exclusively with another rival retailer, no company is going to market or push content from that artist that hard.
Meanwhile, Tidal owner Jay Z has resumed tweeting about Tidal, saying that the music streaming service is doing just fine and that such businesses have historically taken a while to gain momentum.
Tidal is doing just fine. We have over 770,000 subs. We have been in business less than one month. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
The iTunes Store wasn’t built in a day. It took Spotify 9 years to be successful…
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
Tidal is available for free on the App Store, and comes with a 30-day trial period. After that, subscriptions start at $9.99 for Tidal Premium and $19.99 for the HiFi streaming option.