Tidal | The Verge

Tidal is revamping its lossless and immersive audio formats

2024-06-21T11:25:27-04:00

Tidal is dropping support for MQA. | Image: The Verge

Big news for audiophiles: Tidal is shaking up its audio formats. Starting July 24th, Tidal will drop support for Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) and 360 Reality Audio formats. Going forward, the streaming service says FLAC will be the default for stereo, while Dolby Atmos will be the format of choice for immersive sound.

Tidal allows users to stream in three tiers of audio quality: low, high, and max. Low uses AAC files, which go up to 320kbps. High offers CD-quality lossless FLAC files. And Max goes beyond that, with MQA and higher-res FLAC files. The Max tier is where the decision to drop MQA matters - and probably isn't all that surpr …

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A stealthy startup led by Tidal’s former COO plans to turn throwback tracks into modern hits

2022-12-16T09:20:00-05:00

It's payday for some of music's biggest names: Bruce Springsteen sold the rights to his catalog for a reported $550 million last year. Bob Dylan struck a similar deal for an estimated $300 million in late 2020. Paul Simon's catalog changed hands for $250 million. And in early 2022, David Bowie's estate secured at least $250 million in a deal encompassing titles from nearly 30 albums.

This music rights gold rush is due to both the explosion of music streaming and tunes on TikTok as well as an ever-growing need to supply global video services like Netflix with soundtracks to their shows and movies. Now, Duetti, a stealthy startup co-founded b …

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Tidal is testing a new DJ session feature for HiFi Plus subscribers

2022-12-13T18:03:55-05:00

The now-playing screen shows a red DJ button that enables the live streaming-like function. | Image: Tidal

Tidal, the high-bitrate quality music streaming service, is testing a new feature that lets its HiFi Plus subscribers play DJ. Participants of the service's Early Access Program can switch from playing music just for themselves to a DJ session, which then provides a link that can be sent to friends who can listen in.

Tidal DJ works like running your own live radio broadcast or a headphones-only silent party. It's similar to remote sharing features from other streaming services, like Spotify's remote group session or Apple's SharePlay - except you don't have to know who the listeners are. In that way, it's more like Turntable.fm or the old S …

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Tidal launches Dolby Atmos Music support for TVs, home speakers, and soundbars

2020-05-28T12:00:00-04:00

Tidal is vastly expanding its support for Dolby Atmos Music today to include living room set-top boxes, TVs, and speaker systems for subscribers to its $19.99-per-month Tidal HiFi service. Or, depending on how you feel about the mobile version of Atmos, Tidal is launching its first "real" implementation of Dolby Atmos Music today.

Technically, today's launch marks the second rollout for Atmos on Tidal. The company initially launched the feature back in December for the few Android smartphones and tablets that supported the mobile version of Atmos, but the living room version of the feature (with the far better speaker systems that it offers …

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Tidal now offers a discount to firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders

2019-10-10T12:25:00-04:00

Today Tidal launched a new "Community Heroes" program that offers a 40 percent discount to first responders in the US, including people who are firefighters, police officers, and EMT / EMS. The discount applies to both Tidal's Premium and HiFi plans, knocking a Premium membership down to $5.99 and a HiFi membership to $11.99 (originally $9.99 and $19.99).

To redeem the discount, qualifying members can make a new account on Tidal and then select a "First Responder" plan. Once the account is created, a verified organization email address will need to be confirmed by SheerID (a company that specializes in verifying groups like first responders …

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Tidal’s Master quality recordings are now available on iOS

2019-03-11T11:48:37-04:00

Tidal's "Master" quality recordings, which are the streaming service's hi-res MQA music tracks, are now available to listeners via its iOS app. The announcement follows the launch of the feature on Android phones back in January. Master quality audio first became available to Tidal's desktop listeners back in 2017.

Hi-res audio - which is defined as anything with a higher bitrate or sampling frequency than the 16-bit / 44.1kHz standard used by CDs - is able to be streamed thanks to MQA, a technology that allows the file to be effectively compressed to the same size as a standard CD-quality audio file. Previously, getting the full benefits o …

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Tidal follows Spotify, adds block button for specific artists

2019-02-12T12:10:24-05:00

Tidal is staying on top of the social climate and its competition by allowing you to block music you don't want to hear. It's a page taken out of Spotify's book, which recently enabled the feature after receiving pressure from their users.

Blocking artists or specific songs on Tidal affects the My Mix personalized playlists and track radio. Unless you unblock your selection(s) within the Tidal app's settings, the previously blocked song or artist will never play again on your account.

Tidal's addition of artist / song blocking is great for those scenarios where you want to avoid an earworm, or just have an artist you loathe and don't want …

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Kanye West settles lawsuit with fan who thought Life of Pablo would remain a Tidal exclusive

2019-01-31T17:20:52-05:00

Kanye West has settled a lawsuit with a fan who sued the artist in 2016 over false claims that The Life of Pablo would be available to stream exclusively on Tidal. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, according to court documents, but all charges involved have been dropped.

The court documents specifically state that Justin Baker-Rhett (plaintiff) and West, "hereby stipulate and agree to the dismissal of Plaintiff's individual claims with prejudice and the putative class's claims without prejudice, with each party to bear its own attorney fees and costs." A potential class-action lawsuit that was threatened in 2016 will also not …

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Tidal’s allegedly bogus streaming numbers are under investigation in Norway

2019-01-14T11:46:04-05:00

Norwegian authorities have opened an investigation into reports that millions of Tidal's streams never happened, reports Dagens Næringsliv, a Norwegian financial newspaper. Økokrim, Norway's National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, is conducting the investigation after reports emerged last May that 320 million streams of Beyoncé's Lemonade and Kanye West's The Life of Pablo were fraudulent.

If true, inflating the number of streams that each album received would artificially increase the royalty payments for each artist. The same month that reports emerged about the fake streaming numbers, Tid …

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Lincoln is integrating Tidal’s high-end streaming service into its new cars

2019-01-10T13:15:51-05:00

Tidal, the Jay Z-led music streaming service that emphasizes audio quality, is making its way into new Lincoln vehicles, the companies announced on Thursday. Lincoln owners with the latest versions of Ford's Sync infotainment service and an iOS device can access the Tidal app via the in-car console. Lincoln owners will receive up to 12 months of the streaming service for free under the terms of the partnership.

Last year, Lincoln announced a brand "refresh" when it unveiled the new Aviator SUV at the New York Auto Show. Less than 12 months later, it appears that refresh is still bearing fruit. By pairing up with Tidal, Lincoln is making a p …

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