Ben Gibbard thinks Jay Z’s Tidal will fail – got to say, I agree with him
The group of people who think Jay Z’s Tidal audio streaming service is going to fail just got bigger, as Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard came out this week saying he thinks Tidal is doomed even before its re-launch started as well.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Gibbard criticized Jay Z and the other major artists who are part owners of the service saying “I think they totally blew it by bringing out a bunch of millionaires and billionaires, and propping them up onstage, and then having them all complain about not being paid”.
And I have to say, Gibbard could not be more right.
After all, Gibbard’s point about why millionaires are not the people to sell a service that’s supposed to be being run to “help musicians” who are being screwed by every other service, is spot on.
I frankly couldn’t care less if Madonna, Rihanna or Kanye West are getting paid for their music. They’re already worth more money than me and several million other people who live in my city will see in a lifetime.
I do, however, care that small indie musicians are being taken advantage of by services like Spotify when it comes to paying them a decent rate for their music being streamed. Yet, it doesn’t look like those are the people Tidal is planning on helping anyway. Not if the Tidal launch is anything to go by.
As Ben Gibbard went on to say “There was a wonderful opportunity squandered to highlight what this service would mean for artists who are struggling, and to make a plea to people’s hearts and pocketbooks to pay a little more for this service that was going to pay these artists a more reasonable streaming rate. And they didn’t do it. That’s why this thing is going to fail miserably.”
And I already love Ben Gibbard. And now I love him just that little bit more.