Tidal make waves with 30-day free trial and two new ways of listening

(Image credit: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek - Getty)

Tidal have got in on the Black Friday music deals by unveiling two new tiers of their music streaming service and announced they’re offering new subscribers the first 30 days of listening for free.

First up is Tidal HiFi which will cost $9.99/£9.99 after the first free 30 days. This gives listeners access to more than 80 million tracks in lossless audio format and high quality sound up to 1411 kbps and 350,000 videos. No ads will spoil your sonic bliss and you can also listen offline.

Meanwhile Tidal HiFi Plus will cost $19.99/£19.99 after the initial trial period for new subs and will soothe your ears with immersive audio formats including MQA, Dolby Atmos, Sony 360 Reality Audio, and HiFi up to up to 9216 kbps for a beautiful listening experience. Again, you’ll be able to listen offline and without the interruption of ads.

Tidal have also revealed that 10% of your HiFi Plus subscription will be directed to the artists you listen to most thanks to their Direct Artist Payout programme.

They say: “Direct Artist Payouts will allow artists to benefit directly from their biggest fans on Tidal, and a new activity feed will show fans exactly where their money goes.”

In addition, there’s a new Fan-Centered Royalties initiative which will be based on the “actual streaming activity of fans vs. the industry accepted method of aggregating streams and allocating it to the most popular artists.”

Tidal go on: “With Tidal HiFi Plus, artists will see a significantly higher per-play-rate than the standard rate of other streaming services. Fan-Centered Royalties will not be aggregated. Instead, royalties will go to the artists that Tidal users actually stream, so fans can directly support the artists they love. Fans will start to see their streams add up in their activity feed in January 2022.

“With support from the vast majority of our record label and distributor partners, Tidal is going beyond current industry standards to make royalty payments more transparent for artists and rights holders.”

Looking for more offers? Then check out our Black Friday wireless headphones deals, Black Friday record players deals, Black Friday Bluetooth speakers deals and Black Friday vinyl deals pages for all the latest bargains.

And if you're looking for Black Friday jigsaw puzzle deals or the best Black Friday alcohol deals, then we also have you covered here at Louder.

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Scott has spent 36 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 11 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.