TIDAL has announced it is offering a family plan with discounted prices as an attempt to try and lure new users to the service. Jay Z's streaming service is reacting to the moves by other services like Spotify, Apple Music and Rdio, which offer either free subscriptions for a limited time or as part of a freemium model. TIDAL has a paywall to start and wants to make it more accessible for groups to sign up. The company announced Wednesday (July 8) that it is offering up to a 50 percent discount on up to four additional users to the same account. The initial user still has to pay the standard $10 per month.
For the maximum number of members, five, on the plan, this would work out to $30 per month instead of $50. The additional users pay $5 instead of $10.
As noted by Billboard, the same type of discount is also offered for the hi-fidelity version of the service. So the initial buyer would still have to pay $20 and then the additional four users would have to pay $10.
The move seems to be a swift reaction to Apple Music's family pricing plan, which undercuts TIDAL's new plan. A single user would still pay the initial $9.99 per month, but then for a family of 6, the total cost would just be $14.99.
In addition to the new pricing plan, TIDAL will be rolling out a series of new changes in the coming months that include a partnership with Ticketmaster, student pricing and a desktop app.
Streaming services looking to lower prices as a way to try and woo consumers into paying for their services could have consequences down the line as artists seek larger payouts streaming and freemium is slowly squeezed out by major labels who want their share to grow.
