Jay Z Announces Details of New Streaming Service With Help From Kanye, Coldplay, & More

Kanye West, Beyonce, Coldplay and more tease the announcement of streaming service relaunch.

March 30, 2015

UPDATE 3/30/15 12:33 p.m.: Watch a commercial for TIDAL above.

Since we first reported that Jay Z was purchasing a stake in Swedish company Aspiro for $56 million, it seems the ink has dried. Several artists including Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Coldplay and more teased the relaunch of the TIDAL streaming service via Twitter, and the company has sent out press releases announcing a live streamed press conference today at 5pm EST where "Jay Z will announce a commitment to a new direction for the music industry from both a creative and business perspective."

Swedish blog Breakit reports that the hi-fidelity streaming service plans to leverage Roc Nation's deep artist ties through management and other services to negotiate "first window" deals for new album releases. Under these agreements, new releases will stream on TIDAL well before they go live on other platforms, including Spotify. Tech Crunch also suggests what would make the most sense: that TIDAL will offer more attractive payouts to artists than the much maligned Spotify, at a steeper cost of $19.99 a month to the user. Check back in at 5 p.m. to watch Jay Z's address live.

Lead image: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Jay Z Announces Details of New Streaming Service With Help From Kanye, Coldplay, & More