If you told a story, regardless of the medium, would you want it to be twisted, adapted or represented in a way that didn’t show your true character or give you full credit?
For many artists in the music industry, the extension of their voices and performances through large conglomerates and social media have angered them to regain control of the medium through which they are personified and connected with their audience. “TIDAL” is a modern example of this, where we have seen the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways (Jenkins, H 2006).
With subscriptions providing access to high fidelity sound quality, high definition music video and curated editorial the medium has ensured that quality control and concentration of ownership are at the baseline of ensuring that every important story gets told and every brand gets sold…in the artists favor (Jenkins, H 2009).
Competitive Media Platforms
Operating as a convergence culture however, brings with it a world of boundless opportunities and choices, with competitors such as Pandora, Spotify and Soundcloud offering both free and paid consumer usage, Tidal is changing the symbiotic relationship by which the medium itself is influencing how we ‘the audience’, interact and receive the message ‘the music’. Although the societal changes introduced by Tidal include a more personalised experience with the artists themselves, are we truly going to adopt the new invention or innovation as an active participant? Or does it force ourselves to re-adopt the pure role of the consumer.
Here are some ways the service has attempted to include society as an active and content sharing protagonist. Would you try it??
Mr&Mr 