• High-Quality Audio Service Tidal Enters the United States Market

    Audiophiles, rejoice! If you have been looking for an alternative to the average to low-quality sound being streamed by services like Spotify, Beats Music and YouTube, then a new audio service called Tidal is here for you. The service launched in the United States market last week as the first streaming service to offer only high-quality audio.Deezer Elite, which launched in the United States last month, offers high quality as part of its package, but you must be hooked up to Sonos to get the quality. Tidal streams high-fidelity lossless quality, which means it is at 1411 kilobytes per second. To put that in perspective, Spotify streams at 160 kbps for standard desktop and Web player users, iTunes downloads at 256 kbps and Beats Music at 320 kbps, widely considered to be the threshold for good quality for an MP3.Tidal has a library of 25 million songs, comparable to Spotify and Beats Music, and comes with a curation aspect as well. The service creates playlists and gives you recommendations from their editorial team. Not only do you get high-quality music, but you also get HD video for music videos as well.

  • Spotify Royalties Overtake iTunes in Europe, According to Kobalt Music; Will Taylor Swift Be Back Soon?

    Music industry heads might not have been shocked at the announcement this week but the news was still monumental: According to royalty disbursement agency Kobalt (via TechCrunch), streaming royalties from Spotify have surpassed the totals of iTunes for the first time during the last quarter. The company reported that the average performer received 13 percent higher payouts from streaming royalties than that of downloads.

  • Taylor Swift Pulls Entire Music Catalog from Spotify, Report Blames Big Machine Sale

    Taylor Swift's entire music catalog was pulled from Spotify this weekend, and the company was on its knees to try and get her back."We hope she'll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone," a blog post on the site read. "We believe fans should be able to listen to music wherever and whenever they want, and that artists have an absolute right to be paid for their work and protected from piracy. That's why we pay nearly 70 percent of our revenue back to the music community."An anonymous source told Billboard that the pending Big Machine sale is responsible for the decision.

  • Spotify Provides Canadian Alternatives to Your Favorite Band...With Haphazard Results; Soundgarden and Nickelback ARE NOT THE SAME

    Just in case we (or your other annoying indie friends) haven't told you yet: There's a lot of great music coming out of Canada. And Spotify wants you to know about it...supposedly. Hence the huge project it just launched on its Insights blog allowing you to "Canadify" your favorite act, reportedly so that you can start digging similar bands from the cold, white north.

  • Ed Sheeran Defends Spotify Because It Ultimately Helps Him To Play More Live Shows

    Criticism over streaming music services like Spotify is really nothing new. A multitude of artists have come forward to complain about the royalties that are paid out for services such as these. There has been a lot of back and forth dialog over whether or not digital sales have actually cost artists cold, hard cash that used to come from fans buying good old CD's. Ed Sheeran is one artist that believes streaming services ultimately have helped him to do that thing that he loves most- play live.

  • Spotify Opens Streaming Service in Canada after Intense Licensing Negotiations

    We generally enjoy Tuesdays just because of all the new albums that pour forth into the market for us to consider. This Tuesday was especially excellent for many music-loving Canadians however: Spotify finally opened up streaming operations in the United States' northern neighbor (via The Hollywood Reporter).
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