Spotify vs. Tidal
Which music-streaming corner should you back?
Before each of the streaming sites starts throwing punches, we need to take a step back to 2011, when the way we consume music began to change. This was when Spotify was widely released and gave the world a new way to experience music consumption. Users could search for and listen to any song that was on Spotify’s online library. As a whole, we no longer physically own music; we stream it. Spotify was one of the key founders to push and innovate this new audio age, in which music streaming is a very common household service. For the full packages, you pay a monthly subscription instead of outright physically owning the music – we will dig deeper into this a little later. Since creating this advance in audio listening, Spotify has always been at the forefront of the sector.
Moving on to 2014, and we have a new competitor in the music streaming industry: Tidal. Artist-owned, Tidal aims to deliver the best sound quality within the audio streaming world. Its partnership with MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) enables it to house the biggest catalog of master audio files. Tidal’s been making its name with its focus on audio quality and has been rising in popularity since launch, but where does it stand against Spotify?
That’s the basics covered, but what does Spotify offer the consumer? Well, as well as a library of over 50 million songs, Spotify delivers videos, podcasts, and audiobooks to its audience. Over the years, the software has become incredibly efficient, including features such as Spotify Connect, which enables you to seamlessly switch playback between your devices. Talking of which, the app is supercompatible – you can access Spotify via your PC, Mac, web browser, phone, tablet, speakers, TV, car, games console, smartwatch, and more. That’s pretty impressive, to say the least. Seamless integration means that your music isn’t interrupted and you can pick up from where you left off. Tidal, on the other hand, takes the short straw regarding compatibility, only being available on PC, Mac, web browsers, and iOS or Android devices. Tidal Connect is a feature that challenges Spotify’s seamless nature, but it isn’t as fluent as Spotify’s pick-up-and-play approach. Where Tidal claims one back over Spotify is its library of music, boasting over 70 million songs – considering Tidal’s later entrance into the music streaming scene, you’d have thought Spotify would take the crown here.
Spotify currently has two subscription models: free and premium. The free offering gives you access to the full library of songs, podcasts, and audiobooks, but the audio quality is lower, there are ads, you can’t download your music (though you can download podcasts), on mobile devices you can only pick and play songs on specific playlists, and you can only travel abroad with your music for up to 14 days. Premium costs $11.99 a month and gives you access to everything with the highest audio quality it offers and the ability to download and listen ad-free. There are also monthly plans for students ($5.99), families ($18.99 for six accounts), and a duo account ($15.99) for two people living together. Spotify shines when it comes to compatibility, with a user-friendly nature that appeals to the masses.
Tidal isn’t as versatile and offers two options, one of which is Tidal Premium, a very similar option to Spotify Premium. The
other is the most desirable subscription between the two platforms: Tidal HiFi. Both the premium plans from each platform offer a music bitrate of 320kb/s at $11.99 a month.
Quality assurance
Where Spotify falls short is audio quality. Spotify HiFi is set to release later this year to challenge this by delivering music in CD-quality, lossless audio format, but this is currently not available – you snooze you lose, Spotify. The HiFi audio that Tidal delivers claims to be “the highest quality audio available” but it costs twice as much as the premium plans, coming in at $23.99 a month. Is the sound quality worth double the price? Teaming up with MQA, Tidal gives the user the best audio quality available via streaming. On its website, it says it delivers music “as flawless as it sounded in the mastering suite and exactly as the artist intended it to sound.” The bottom line is that with the right gear (a solid pair of headphones or a hi-fi system with an epic pair of speakers), Tidal certainly gives the consumer a much richer experience. Paired with a DAC, Tidal HiFi is the best audio experience you will get via a streaming music site, but that isn’t the full package with these platforms.
Regarding the UI experience, Spotify nails this area. Although the overall aim is to deliver music to the consumer at the best quality possible, these streaming platforms have to do it in an efficient and easy-to-use way. For us, Spotify’s layout and design just beats Tidal’s; it’s a little more vibrant and clear, key factors for a good application. That’s not to say Tidal’s is bad by any means – in fact, if you switch between the two, you will notice how the layouts are fairly similar, and that’s a good thing. Searching on Spotify seems to be more efficient, pulling in what you want. There’s nothing worse than remembering a song you love and sifting through the search menus trying to find audio heaven, while trudging through the same old wrong results. Or even worse, giving up because you spelled something slightly differently, resulting in a blank search. This happened very little on both, but more often on Tidal. Luckily, Tidal has an extra trick up its sleeve: It features audio search, a feature that works similarly to Shazam, but built into the app. This is a great time-saving feature, and means you never miss out on finding a song.
Both services provide a very similar experience, but each appeals to slightly different audiences. Tidal’s artist-driven platform gives more back to the musicians, supporting the creators who make the world a better place with their music. Its focus on audio quality appeals to audiophiles, and if you fit into this category and have all the gear, Tidal will be more than good enough for you as a streaming device. On the flip side, it isn’t as user-friendly and efficient as Spotify. With Spotify offering a variety of plans, it appeals more to the masses, and its Premium plan is by no means poor quality. With a HiFi release on the horizon for Spotify, it will challenge Tidal when it comes to being the best at audio quality, and this is an area we will be keeping a keen eye on. Overall, Spotify just beats Tidal, thanks to its more versatile approach to delivering music and slightly better functionality.
SPOTIFY Extremely versatile platform; seamless playback options; great all-arounder. Doesn’t offer the best audio quality.
“Tidal will be more than good enough for you as a streaming device. But it isn’t as user-friendly as Spotify.”
TIDAL
Best quality music streaming site; search function is not as precise.