The Tidal Concert Was Disappointing, Just Like Tidal
(Image: Tidal)

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The Tidal Concert Was Disappointing, Just Like Tidal

Even Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj can’t save the struggling streaming service.

On Tuesday, Jay Z put on the biggest event surrounding his streaming app Tidal yet, with an insane lineup that included Jay Z himself, Beyoncé, T.I., Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne.

It was a charity concert put on by Tidal and HTC: two companies that could use some help themselves. Shares for the embattled Taiwanese phone company have fallen 51 percent this year. Meanwhile, the media criticism of Tidal has been relentless, and Jay Z himself apparently forgot that he owned the company just last week.

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Much of the show on Thursday was just that: forgettable. Although it was Jay Z's biggest effort yet to promote his streaming service, the concert limped along for the majority of the time, a live show awkwardly catered to online streaming, the musicians pandering to cameras on stage rather than the audience. About a dozen smaller artists cycled through sets of five minutes or less with disjointed, choppy transitions between them.

In many ways what was notable was not who was there, but who wasn't. Throughout the night, the DJ played songs by Drake to hype up crowd between sets, an awkward choice given that the artist switched to Apple Music after withdrawing support from Tidal shortly before its launch in March. The rapper was also absent from a performance of Rick Ross song "Stay Schemin," which he is featured in, and "Truffle Butter," which Nicki Minaj performed later in the night. When Vic Mensa performed "U Mad," a single that heavily features Kanye West, the latter artist's verses were conspicuously missing. West previously withdrew from Tidal and deleted many of his tweets supporting the company after helping Jay Z launch the app.

What exclusive content are users getting for their $9.99 a month?

By the time Nicki Minaj came out on stage, the audience's excitement had started to fade a bit. She and Beyoncé, who redeemed the concert with their inevitably flawless performance of "Feeling Myself," are also perhaps the saving grace for Tidal. The only time I have ever considered trading in my Spotify subscription to pay for Tidal's services was when the two released their video for the song exclusively on the site. However, I quickly found a ripped version of the "Feeling Myself" video online, and even if I hadn't, my Twitter feed was immediately filled with GIFs and screen grabs of Nicki and Beyoncé swapping cheeseburgers.

Such was the case with the Tidal concert. The email press members received beforehand said, "please note, no still or motion photography is permitted in the arena," presumably to preserve the exclusivity of the stream. But the attempt was futile. You can now find the entire performance recapped online in GIFs, photo sets, and Vines by the Beyoncé fan army on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram.

The immediate, ubiquitous online recaps of the show underscores the shaky value of streaming live performances online. Even on Tidal's own site, much of the show is now available for viewing without a subscription. So the marathon concert, streamed online for thousands left me wondering—what's the point? What exclusive content are users getting for their $9.99 a month? Despite some of my favorite artists performing at Tuesday's show, the absence of others was deafening, and the implication of their abandonment is clear. And if Nicki and Beyoncé can't save Tidal, then who can?

Update: A representative for Tidal wrote in to note that this show was for charity, as we wrote, and never intended to be behind a paywall. "The show was put on to celebrate one million subscribers and proceeds went to charity," the representative wrote. "Ticket sales went exclusively to TIDAL subscribers, but only for a short period of time, and other content such as Usher's 'Chains' music experience was posted on TIDAL—but again—for a short period of time. Yes, TIDAL subscribers do enjoy exclusive, high-quality music. However, the content of this concert never was, nor has been, promoted as being exclusive to TIDAL subscribers."