“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, Man” – Hov to launch new music streaming service Tidal with the support of the industry’s top acts

Hip-Hop’s hottest hustleprenure, Jay-Z, is relaunching his newly acquired Tidal music streaming service today, but not without a little help from his industry friends.

Usher, Alicia Keys, Madonna, Daft Punk, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Kanye West are all among the notable figures who have either changed their social media icons to Tidal blue or can be seen in the 30-second promo video released on Twitter earlier today.

Louder than words. The revolution is coming. Turn up. #TIDALforALL https://t.co/syN2pgvjkR

— TIDAL (@TIDALHiFi) March 30, 2015

Pitchfork reports:

At 5 p.m. Eastern, Jay Z is making a “special announcement” at a New York launch event.

Tidal offers lossless CD-quality audio and video. There will be no free, ad-supported plan; monthly subscriptions cost $19.95. The service has deals with all of the major record labels. It also offers expert-curated playlists and editorial. Tidal is being positioned as a rival to Spotify. For example, Taylor Swift’s catalog is available on Tidal. (She removed it from Spotify last fall.)

In January, Jay-Z bid $56 Million to Aspiro, the Swedish company behind Tidal and met some resistance from the minority stakeholders. Earlier this month Jay-Z’s bid was approved, so I’m excited to hear what he’s going to do with the service. From the looks of that video, it’s going to be major!

What do we think of this power play, by Hovito? What does this move mean to the future of music? Chime in!