A Tidal Review As Told By A Free Trial Subscriber Who Only Came For ‘Lemonade’

Like many, I am currently the proud owner of a one-month free trial of Tidal, after the April 23 launch of Beyonce’s sixth studio album Lemonade and its accompanying visual album. This seemed like a better opportunity than ever to see what the hype, if any, surrounding Tidal was all about; especially after missing the Lemonade visual album special on HBO.

As you can imagine, the last week was spent with Lemonade on constant rotation. I have since migrated to other tunes and genres. My experience with Tidal has overall been positive. Here are some standout points from my Tidal experience so far.

Setup was a little confusing

Perhaps it was just my haste to watch Lemonade late on the evening of Sunday, April 23, but I fumbled a bit in getting set up. After registering, the confirmation email lets you download the Tidal software. There is software available for smartphones and PC and I installed the app onto my MacBook and a little later my Nexus 6P, Android phone. I would also discover later that installing the app for PC in particular isn’t 100 percent necessary as you can stream from the website. Completely glossing over the part of the email that indicated my email address was my username, I panicked a little, but was able to figure it out with a little closer reading.

Tidal is an archive of my youth

It’s pretty easy to imagine that most streaming services will have large selection of music, both past and present. But for a reason I am unable to explain, I’ve been drawn to seek out songs I enjoyed as a teenager. While riding home one evening, the song “Get Over Yourself” by Eden’s Crush bubbled to the surface of my consciousness.

For those old enough to remember, Eden’s Crush was an all-girl pop group created from a reality show called Popstars . Suddenly I’m 16 again and pretending in my mirror to be performing after dealing with a cheating boyfriend. Perhaps it’s my affinity for replaying Beyonce’s “Hold Up,” but several similar songs have come to mind, including “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, “Bust Your Windows” by Jazmine Sullivan and “Hit Em Up Style” by Blu Cantrell. I was happy to find all these titles on Tidal. Eventually I found myself in a sea of Ashanti, Brandy and Monica, Mya, Fabolous and old school Jay-Z through suggested content.

As an avid user of SoundCloud, in its basic version, I can attest to the challenges of finding a high-quality version of an old song that isn’t a remix or cover. It’s refreshing to have the same kinds of access to these songs that I would more recent songs. However, one song I didn’t find a recorded version to was “Bug Bytes” by Alien Ant Farm. There was only a live performance version available.

For the record, I chose the $9.99 monthly Tidal Premium subscription and not the $19.99 Tidal Hi-Fi subscription. I had no complaints about the sound quality of this version.

You're likely to see a Beyonce song somewhere in suggestions

During my walk down memory lane, I realized there was no escaping Beyonce. I would scroll through the suggested tracks and sure enough, Beyonce’s “Formation” in particular, would be at the bottom on the list. Not that’s it’s surprising, it’s just funny to be actually true.

The main page of Tidal largely reads like an Beyonce discography with a little bit of Prince sprinkled in and a handful of Tidal Rising artists with whom I am unfamiliar. Tidal Rising showcases artists substantial fan base, to help them get more exposure.

Tidal skews toward pop culture

Overall, the music selection on Tidal isn’t much different from what you see on the Top 40 charts. I find myself uninterested in a lot of the content. My current music taste is largely comprised of various EDM genres. While there is content from artists featured that pique my interest, such as Zedd’s new remake of “True Colors” with Kesha and the new Calvin Harris and Rihanna collaboration, “This Is what You Came For,” much of the available content is older songs that are connected to albums.

For example, in searching for Alien Ant Farm (notably not EDM), I easily found their studio albums within Tidal’s listing, but had to dig a little deeper to find “Bug Bytes.” The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 2002 Spider Man film.

I found a handful of tracks a by DJ friend of a friend, Francisco Lozano, but none of his notable mixes like his remix of “Young & Beautiful” By Lana Del Ray or his recent New York to Denver mixes. In particular, I didn’t find many continuous mixes from artists, which are my preferred mode of listening.

I was at first glance, surprised to see one song, “Mind Off” by HAEZER & SBCR (Eliminate Remix), but it later made sense to me as it was included as part of an EP.

Frequent crashes

So far I’ve used Tidal mostly through the Android app on my smartphone, and I’ve had the app crash enough times for it to be notable. Sometimes the app will crash and shutdown immediately.

Sometimes I’ll get a crash notice and the app won’t close but I’ll have to restart the song. The crashes have been frequent enough to be annoying. I typically don’t have many application crashes on my device.

Playback is sometimes not continuous

I’m not certain whether this is due to an action on my part, but I’ve several experienced times when a song will finish playing on the Tidal app and won’t continue to the next song. It was especially notable when playing an album, like Lemonade , I’d have to access the Tidal app and press play on a song after the previous song ended for several tracks. My most immediate remedy was restarting the album from the beginning.

If offline playback is selected users can play a handful of songs

Tidal does include an offline playback option, which will download songs and albums and host them in a section easily found in the menu bar. However, much like other streaming services, songs will play to an extent without internet access, if they’ve previously been played in full. I’ve experienced several mid-song cut offs while underground. Maybe someday there will be an option so users don’t have to specify offline playback but sadly that day is not today.

I was happy to see discount options for students and military

I remember the hullabaloo that went on when Tidal was first announced and consumers lamented at the $19.99 subscription price to Tidal Hi-Fi. But of course, we now know that not all Tidal plans are that pricey. Students get a 50 percent discount, paying $4.99 monthly for Premium and $9.99 monthly for Hi-Fi. Military gets a 40 percent discount paying $5.99 monthly for Premium and $11.99 for Hi-Fi. I’m personally unable to use either option, but it's great to see the option available for those who can.

Verdict

Will I keep Tidal? I’ve already told my friends and professed on social media that my Tidal subscription will be cancelled promptly on May 23. However, I’m considering paying for at least one month of service. Having unbridled access to content like Lemonade isn’t half bad.

I don’t see myself subscribing to Tidal long term. In general, the service does not cater to the way I consume music. However, if Beyonce cares to drop another mind blowing, edge snatching audio and visual experience, I’ll probably be back with a new email address, a new credit card and a new free trial.