Could Jay-Z's TIDAL revolutionize music streaming payments to artists? (Talking Trends)

<p>Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Trends, the weekly podcast from <a href='https://musicbusinessworldwide.com/'>Music Business Worldwide</a> – where we go deep behind the headlines of news stories affecting the entertainment industry. Talking Trends is supported by <a href='http://www.volymusic.com/'>Voly Music.</a><br/><br/>This week on Talking Trends, host Louise Porter asks MBW founder, Tim Ingham, about a raft of new changes coming to TIDAL – the music streaming platform founded by Jay-Z, and acquired by Jack Dorsey&apos;s Square earlier this year for over $300 million.<br/><br/>Last week, TIDAL announced three big changes were coming to its service in 2022: (i) That it would launch a free tier for the first time, allowing non-TIDAL-subscribers to listen to music on the platform; (ii) That it would introduce &apos;direct to artist&apos; payments on its most expensive ($19.99 per month) tier, that will see a proportion of each subscriber&apos;s monthly payment go direct to that subscriber&apos;s favorite artist; and (iii) The adoption of a &apos;user-centric&apos; payment system, like that launched by SoundCloud earlier this year.<br/><br/>Ingham (pictured) explains the details behind all three moves – and considers the impact they might have on fans, artists, and the wider music business.<br/><br/>Talking Trends is supported by <a href='https://www.volymusic.com/'>Voly Music</a>, the new bespoke financial management platform for people in the music business.</p>