The past year has been a rocky ride for streaming subscription service TIDAL. Last March, the platform launched as an artist-led initiative heavily co-signed by owner Jay Z and wife/pop star galore Beyonce. The former even launched an event in New York featuring a slew of celebrities including Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, all of whom threw their voices of support behind the service.
Despite that, it didn't take long for critics to begin maligning the fledgling company for it's hefty membership price tag, particularly the hi-fidelity, lossless audio program. A few missteps later, 2016 is drawing to a close but TIDAL remains steadfast. Nevertheless, the numbers the public has been privy to aren't nearly close to bringing the competition it was once expected to provide Apple Music competing service.
In March of 2016, TIDAL reported a total of three million global subscribers with around 1.35 million or 45% of them having subscribed to the hi-fidelity program at $19.99 a month. The rest signed up for a standard subscription which runs for $9.99 per month.
By comparison, Apple Music which launched in June of 2015, cited 11 million paid subscribers while Spotify reached the 30 million mark this year.
That's not to say that TIDAL isn't holding its ground, which is perhaps what the year in review aims to prove. In total, the platform facilitated 39 live stream concerts with exclusive ticket giveaways, 32 TIDAL exclusive albums and 45 exclusive music videos.
Take a look at the video below to see TIDAL editor picks for the best albums, playlists and more, this year.
Also make sure to discover these 10 talented musicians worth getting to know in 2017.
