Report: Jay Z' Tidal Streaming Service Is A Flop

It looks like Tidal, the new music streaming service from Jay Z, is a high-profile flop, having fallen down below Number 650 on the App Store's U.S. app charts less than a month after launching, and Slate says it shows that people really don't care about artists, especially if those artists have a lot of money.

The stated goal of Tidal was to compensate musicians more fairly than Spotify, although not much information was given about how that would work.

It was introduced in a splashy ceremony at which Jay Z was joined by a lot of other big-name musicians, including Kanye West, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Jack White, Madonna and Daft Punk, which drew criticism from a lot of people who said rich musicians whining about not being paid wasn't a good look.

"I think they totally blew it by bringing out a bunch of millionaires and billionaires and propping them up onstage and then having them all complain about not being paid," Death Cab for Cutie singer Ben Gibbard said in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. "That’s why this thing is going to fail miserably."

Beyond that, it looks like people just aren't interested in paying more for music -- Tidal costs $9.99 for a basic package with no free, ad-supported tier -- if they don't have to.

Slate writes: "The past 15 years of revealed preferences tell us that most people just want cheap access to as much music as possible," and cites respected industry analyst Bob Lefsetz, who said that people, quote, "love their money more than their favorite artists, never forget it."