The largest assemblage of the biggest stars in music industry launched newly artist-owned high-definition streaming service Tidal. Chart-stoppers Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire's Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J. Cole, Kanye West, Deadmau5, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Usher supported Jay Z during the launch of the artist-owned streaming service.
Alicia Keys cited the goal of the group which is "to preserve music's importance in our lives" by creating better streaming service to fans and artists, "We come together before you on this day...with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be a moment that will forever change the course of music history. Our goal is simple: We want to create a better service and a better experience for both fans and artists, and that is our promise to the world."
"Today is the day," she repeated before inviting her co-owners to sign what she called a "declaration," though she did not expound on what it said. "This is the beginning of a whole new era," she said before each present musician made his or her way over to a podium to sign a document. When they were done, they returned to their spot onstage; Chassagne seemed to zone out to the music but eventually struck up a conversation with Beyoncé who was standing next to her.
After the event, Deadmau5 tweeted, "Yeah. That just happened. Awkward? Maybe. But I do believe in this venture!" Nicki Minaj, meanwhile, wrote on Facebook that she was "so proud to be a part" of the service.
According to reports, Jay Z was the first artist who had invested in Tidal. The rapper recently said that he had put in millions of dollars into Aspiro, the Norwegian company that created Tidal. West, Rihanna and the other artists showed their support of the music platform two months before its release when they changed their Twitter feeds to an aquamarine color.
Jay Z told Billboard that each of the founding owners in Tidal had an equal share in the venture. "That's the utopia," he said. "Everyone is sharing in it; everyone is some kind of owner in it in some kind of way".
Tidal offers CD-quality music streaming of more than 25 million songs and high-definition video streaming of 75,000 videos .
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