RastaMentality
Banned
Jay Z interview with Fader Mag
http://www.thefader.com/2015/04/01/...t-the-clive-davis-institute-of-recorded-music
Other than the somewhat odd tap water comparison, I don't think what he's saying sounds all that terrible. Definitely a lot of pretentiousness to serve an entire nation though.
How will TIDAL change the industry with regards to artists' bottom line? Spotify has received much criticism for the portion of revenue that the artists receive through their music being streamed there. Is TIDAL a direct response to this criticism?
Jay Z: Not a direct response. You don't want to single anyone out, per se but currently we pay the highest royalty percentage. And there is no free tier service. If you have five people paying for music, and ten people consuming it, then the artist starts at -5. We start at 1. There is no free tier and we'll pay the highest royalty percentage. That's how we'll change the industry, as well as through a number of other things which I'm sure you guys are gonna ask about, so, I don't want to go too into it on the first question.
Will TIDAL offer a student discount for subscriptions like Spotify does in the near future?
J: Oh. Okay, well I'm going to let Vania answer that one.
Vania Schlogel: Yes. When we look at the data, the data says that students don't really care about paying for streaming. I actually don't believe that, necessarily I think that this demographic here, sitting in the room, cares very deeply about music. I think in fact that a lot of you have a deeper emotional connection with music than any data says. And so the short answer for that is, absolutely yes, because we want you all to be Team TIDAL and to be a part of this.
How difficult is it for an indie artist to put their music onto TIDAL? Services like Spotify can be very difficult, if not on a label or going through a digital distributor. Does the same apply for TIDAL?
V: There is that difficulty, I know, with other services. I'm not a musician, but some of my friends are and they tell me "I had to go through an aggregator, I had to wait six months for this and that and nobody paid attention to me." And these are all things that we hear and that are very personal to us, and that we are addressing. The truth of the matter is, we took control of this company a few weeks ago. We're still a very young, nascent company and we have a lot of initiatives that we're working on, especially when it comes to indie talent, emerging talent, giving people visibility, giving people a forum to put their music up and giving them control of their distribution and their creative content, how they want to communicate with their fans. Those are all initiatives, and that one specifically is something that we're working on addressing.
J: As well as having a discovery program, where established artists can take things that they like and just showcase them. It's all about paying it forward and working very cyclically and discovering new music. Imagine if Win from Arcade Fire puts up an artist that he discovered in Haiti and he had this idea, actually, I don't want to step on his idea and through the curation process gets something really good and introduces it to the world. And then the world is inspired by that sound. It gets a little ethereal from there, but just the possibilities of what TIDAL can do are really exciting, on a creative front.
How is TIDAL's payout structure for artists different from competitors such as Spotify?
J: I know everyone thinks "new company, main business competitor is Spotify" but we're really not here to compete with anyone, we're actually here to improve the landscape. If just the presence of TIDAL causes other companies to have better pay structure, or to pay more attention to it moving forward, then we've been successful in one way. So we don't really view them as competitors. As the tide rises, all the boats rise.
V: The royalty rates will be higher than other services. In addition to that, there won't be that free tier that's been depressing the recorded music industry, and frankly been a part of what's been driving the downfall of the recorded music industry, is that free consumption. Music is not free, fundamentally. Someone came in and produced that beat, someone came in and sang that song, someone wrote that song. Someone came in to clean the studio afterwards. There is an entire ecosystem around this, and we've somehow come to believe that it's okay to pay hundreds for consumer electronics but to pay nothing for the music that helps sell it. It's around the education process, with that there will higher royalties. And then another point that I want to touch on that's really important philosophically, not just from a dollars and cents perspective, is the equity ownership. All artists who come in and this is an open platform, an open invitation will participate in the equity upside. And that is important, too, because of that participation in the process, by having a board seat, by actually being an owner in this. It's a different type of involvement.
Will "exclusive content" be available for purchase anywhere?
J: I don't know. It's available for streaming immediately. I don't know where streaming will go in the future. The analytics that we're seeing tell us that streaming is the next thing, and downloads are going down. I feel like with the history of this platform, from vinyl to where we are now, it just seems like the next logical step. Before you had a CD, you put it in, you had the download, they eliminated the CD so just downloads. Now you're going to eliminate the download and you just play it. So it just seems like the next logical step in what's going to happen.
TIDAL is a streaming service created by artists. Is it necessarily for artists? Does this streaming service exclude the major labels in any way?
J: Well, we can't exclude the major labels because they have contracts with the artists. But if you don't have a contract as an independent artist, they you can do whatever you want and we would love to work with you.
Does that mean that artists that are currently on TIDAL, when their contracts expire, could have the option of going in lieu of a record company, and work with something like TIDAL?
J: I'm on Tidal. I don't have a record deal. So yes.
How does TIDAL tend to shift its current perception as a pretentious, self-serving platform for the musical elite, to one referencing the brand essence of being all and for all artists?
J: I guess by having a conversation, and telling people what it is. That opinion came before we even explained what it was "This thing is horrible! What is it?" You know? You never hear Tim Cook's net worth whenever he tries to sell you something. Steve Jobs, God bless, he had to have been pretty rich nobody's ever said, "Oh, the rich getting richer! I won't buy an iPhone!" Yeah, right. It's not about being pretentious; again, this is a thing for all artists. You pay $9.99 for Spotify, so why not $9.99 for TIDAL. We're not asking for anything else, we're just saying that we'll spread that money to artists more fairly. We're not saying anything other than that, and we're saying that we're in a position to bring light to this issue. We're using our power that way. And of course there are greater causes, of course. This is not mutually exclusive there are other problems, real problems going on in the world. We don't miss the problems; we try to take care of them all. Imagine the President: he has to take care of ISIS, gay rights, equal pay for women, discrimination all at the same time! So, you can't say "You started this site when you should be out in St. Louis!" It's like, okay, J. Cole is out in St. Louis. I wasn't in St. Louis, but I was in the governor's office. Because, we can march all day long but if the laws don't change, then we'll be marching again and it'll just be a different slogan on the shirt, and that's a greater tragedy as well. Everyone has to play their part, everyone has to do different things, and it all has to happen at the same time.
Do you think you can reverse the trend of peoples' valuation of music?
J: Absolutely. If a person can pay $6 for a bottle of water, something that used to be free, if someone can do that? I can definitely show you why you should pay for Lauryn Hill's album. There are 14 reasons, it's incredible. Someone's changed our mindset to believe that that bottle of water is worth $6.
http://www.thefader.com/2015/04/01/...t-the-clive-davis-institute-of-recorded-music
Other than the somewhat odd tap water comparison, I don't think what he's saying sounds all that terrible. Definitely a lot of pretentiousness to serve an entire nation though.
