Jay Z is relaunching his new streaming site with support from Kanye West, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and more
Jay-Z bought Tidal earlier this year for a reported $56 million. The Swedish company lets users stream music to their computers and smartphones - but unlike rival Spotify, there is no free, ad-supported option.
After the acquisition was finalised, Jay Z met with a number of high-profile musicians to discuss the platform, including Beyoncé, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Madonna, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, and Chris Martin (of Coldplay). All the attendees have now changed their display pictures on Twitter to a light cyan-blue, and many have posted messages indicating their support for the music platform ahead of a formal relaunch this afternoon:
Taylor Swift has not turned her profile blue - but she is also confirmed to be bringing her music to Tidal. The country-turned-pop singer has previously made headlines over a falling out with rival streaming service Spotify. She said that its free ad-supported model degraded music, and she thinks "there should be an inherent value placed on art."
Tidal aims to differentiate itself by offering music at a significantly higher quality than that found on other streaming platforms. On its website it describes itself as "the first music streaming service that combines the best High Fidelity sound quality, High Definition music videos and expertly Curated Editorial." The platform has previously offered subscribers exclusively editorial content, articles and interviews with musicians - and it sounds like the newly relaunched platform will include similar.
Jay Z has previously experimented with launching new music through new platforms. In a partnership with Samsung in 2013, the rapper released his new album to Samsung phone owners if they downloaded a promotional app. It's not known whether he will do something similar with Tidal, though it could help drum up interest in the platform.
Jay Z's record label says there will be a "special announcement" on Monday afternoon: