Much has been written over the past week about the poor (or seemingly poor) performance on Jay-Z's Tidal music streaming service since it dropped out of the top 700 chart in Apple's App Store.
Tidal pushes lossless high definition streaming, and has marketed itself as an artist backed service that pays fair royalties to musicians - but this pitch has fallen flat.
It probably doesn't help that it costs €19.99 per-month to sign up for a premium subscription - that's twice the price of Spotify.
The rapper has some messages to those who have been commenting on the service's slow start...
Stream of consciousness coming in 5, 4, 3, 2… #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
Tidal is doing just fine. We have over 770,000 subs. We have been in business less than one month. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
The iTunes Store wasn't built in a day. It took Spotify 9 years to be successful…
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
We are here for the long haul. Please give us a chance to grow & get better. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
There are many big companies that are spending millions on a smear campaign. We are not anti-anyone, we are pro-artist & fan. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
We made Tidal for fans. We have more than just music. We have video, exclusive concerts, tickets for events early, live sports!...
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
….Tidal is where artists can give their fans more without the middlemen. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
Indie artists who want to work directly w/ us keep 100% of their music. "If you don't want the CEOs all in the videos" haa #tidalfacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
Tidal pays 75% royalty rate to ALL artists, writers and producers - not just the founding members on stage.
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
Rich getting richer? Equity values... YouTube $390 billion. Apple $760 billion. Spotify $8 billion. Tidal $60 million. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
My cousin just moved to Nigeria to discover new talent. Tidal is a global company.
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
Our actions will speak louder than words. We made Tidal to bring people the best experiences...
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
and to help artists give that to their fans over and over again…
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
We are human (even Daft Punk ha). We aren't perfect - but we are determined. #TidalFacts
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) April 26, 2015
We're not sure if Jay is familiar with the saying "if your explaining your losing" - or if it applies here. It's (probably) too early to call time on Tidal - but the early signs don't look good.
In a curious side-plot Kanye West's (one of the project's backers) Twitter account posted a number of pro-Tidal tweets after the media criticism began - but they were subsequently deleted...
Tidal faces stiff competition, Spotify recently secured new funding that values the company at $8.4bn - and the music industry is expecting Apple to shake up the streaming landscape by converting iTunes into a streaming platform later in 2015.
