With last week’s press-conference for Jay Z’s new streaming service Tidal raising as many questions as it answered, HipHopDX’s Editor-in-chief Justin Hunte breaks down the influx of streaming platforms in the latest edition of the DX Daily.
While Tidal is the service currently making headlines, Hunte points out that Jay Z’s venture into streaming is just the latest in a long list of entertainment artists investing in the space.
Last year, Nas put his celebrity behind the launch of Pluto.TV, a new curated streaming platform for online video. In a statement to HipHopDX, Nas explained why he was motivated to get involved in the streaming industry and with Pluto specifically.
“We’ve been very interested in how content is being consumed and the patterns around how people populate the day with what they watch,” the rapper said through a statement. “We saw that people aren’t as concerned with sitting at the TV to watch a show live but much more interested in watching it on their own time. Binge watching has increased drastically. Netflix even releases full seasons at once. Those patterns led us to believe that quality content that you can have when you want is already in full swing and Pluto’s platform speaks to that. It’s taking that trend and magnifying it. Should be an exciting journey!”
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DX also spoke with Rhymefest to get an artist’s perspective on the shift and recent buzz over Tidal. Breaking down why he thinks Tidal’s success hinges on getting customers to align themselves with the narrative of the company, Fest says there’s a possible “gold rush” in the streaming industry.
“I think it’s a thought war,” Rhymefest said. “I think that you probably starting to get a gold rush is in market share, right? Market share is how many people can you get to believe what you believe, think how you think, go with your way of doing things. I think we’re in a thought war and I believe that before anybody ever signs up for Tidal, they have to believe in Jay Z. They have to believe that what he’s telling them is best for where they need to go. What do a lot of businesses do? They give you a free trial run. They don’t start off charging you. My first three months of Spotify was free. They wanna get my mind into it. So I think more so than a gold rush, the first thing they gotta do is get your thoughts, get you to believe in it. So it’s a thought war that turns into a gold rush if you win the thought war.”
Watch the whole DX breakdown below.
