Tidal is not the streaming service of the Illuminati — in fact, it doesn’t seem to be the streaming service for almost anyone just yet. As of this writing, the streaming service launched by Jay Z and his high-profile phalanx of equity-holding artists on March 30 has fallen out of the top 750 apps, after a peak at No. 83 on April 7 (that data according to tracking site App Annie).
Within the music app category, Tidal is currently No. 45, seven spots behind streaming service Rdio.
A Tidal spokesperson pointed to an upcoming small-venue concert by J. Cole, for Tidal subscribers who streamed the artist the most, as an example of the company’s plans to grow the service.
It’s been a tough month for the startup; other artists have criticized, its CEO has departed, its leader has resorted to calling subscribers.
Things aren’t all bad, however — there’s plenty of room for growth (not just in app ranking). The streaming business in general is booming, with streaming now representing 32 percent of the money being made from digital music worldwide, according to a recent report, with only a fraction of the market fully tapped.
Also notably, Tidal hasn’t yet put out truly compelling artist exclusives. Rihanna’s “American Oxygen” and Beyonce’s “Die With You,” the service’s two highest-profile exclusives that debuted the weekend of April 5, failed to debut on any Billboard chart the week ending April 12. As Jay Z put it to Billboard last month, the exclusives were designed to “as creative as possible.”
But that wasn’t the point in the first place; Tidal was designed, to again quote Jay Z, “strike an honest blow and… make people wake up.” It would be hard to argue that the service has failed to generate headlines, at the very least. [Billboard]