Billboard has released an in-depth interview with Jay Z regarding his Tidal streaming service announcement.
The rap mogul sat with Billboard before the big announcement of his new music streaming service to talk about how he is rewriting the music business rulebook.
On what drove him to create Tidal, Jay-Z says, "We didn’t like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow and if, you know, the very least we did was make people wake up and try to improve the free vs. paid system, and promote fair trade, then it would be a win for us anyway.”
He goes on to explain the importance of valuing music saying, “Music is … imagine your life without music. It’s a very valuable part of your life, and like I said, that’s why we got in this business. It seems to be going the other way. People are not respecting the music, and [are] devaluing it and devaluing what it really means. People really feel like music is free, but will pay $6 for water. You can drink water free out of the tap, and it’s good water. But they’re OK paying for it. It’s just the mind-set right now.”
On competing with Spotify, “It’s not me against Spotify, but for us, you know, just the idea of the way we came into it, with everyone having equity, will open the dialogue — whether it be with the labels, the publishers or whoever”
