Ahead Of Rumored Apple Music Launch, TIDAL Rolls Out Some Big Changes

With Apple expected to unveil its Apple Music streaming service at WWDC next week, we’d imagine that other service providers are holding their breath. That’d be especially true for Jay-Z backed TIDAL, a service that hasn’t quite had the start he and his business partners hoped for.

So, in advance of the Apple Music launch, TIDAL has rolled out some big changes to help attract new users and keep the preexisting ones. At the forefront, a student subscription option has been added, costing $4.99/mo for the “premium” service, or $9.99/mo for the HiFi (lossless) one.

TIDAL has also decided to make its betas public, so that users can test out features before they hit the mainline software, and has integrated Ticketmaster functionality, in case you’re really in the mood to overpay for basic service charges.

Is this going to be enough to dull Apple’s upcoming launch? It seems unlikely, although TIDAL could still offer its own benefits, such as a lossless music option. I’ve commented many times before on how great it would be to see higher-quality music options available, and finally, we’re getting some, including TIDAL and also Neil Young’s Pono. But, it could that Apple Music surprises us by offering a premium tier to compete with these high-end services.

Apple’s WWDC will begin on Monday, so it’s not going to take much longer to find that out.