Jay Z, Beyoncé & Co. Want You to Take Tidal Seriously
In a Lucious Lyon-esque power play, Jay Z called a meeting of the minds today on behalf of his new venture, Tidal—a music streaming service that he picked up from Swedish company Aspiro for a cool $56 million back in January. The press conference featured cameos from 16 of the world’s top artists who were not only there to lend support, but have also each been bestowed a 3-percent stake in the company for their involvement. After announcing that the business movement was “revolutionary” and “going to reestablish the value of music,” Roc Nation CIO Vania Schlogel welcomed Alicia Keys, Win Butler and Régine Chassagne from Arcade Fire, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J. Cole, Jay Z, Kanye West, Deadmau5, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Usher to the stage. Calvin Harris and Chris Martin were also sort of there as they called in via video conference.
An impressive lineup for sure, and the women definitely dressed the part. Keys was in a leather jacket and jeans, Bey in a hot pants with chain link harness combo and a floor-length cape, Minaj wore a negligee-inspired dress with a pink overcoat, and Rihanna channeled her best “business lady” attire in a Dior skirt suit. (That is if “business lady” didn’t wear a bra and had a winged tattoo of the Greek goddess Isis under her breasts.)
Keys went on to deliver an impassioned, but rather vague speech about what music should mean to people and how in the hands of the artists it will be even better quality than usual. Then everyone signed a faux Declaration of Independence honoring this radical movement, and Madonna took the opportunity to hump the table when it was her turn. Afterward everyone stood around thinking they were posing for the most epic class photo ever, but it didn’t seem to happen.
Those who were watching the live stream were then directed to sign up for the nebulous service for a monthly fee of $9.99 or $19.99 per month. (Some reports on Twitter said that users who signed up for the first month, which is supposed to be free, were charged $2.) Another video followed which still didn’t really explain what it is, but it did end with Jay Z saying that this was what the world is waiting for and “if these artists can sit in a room together, the game changes forever. And that’s what happened today.”
I guess it will all unfold soon. In the meantime, what an exciting way to break up a Monday!
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