Tidal Loses CEO

[mav52]

54 minutes ago, Sal1950 said:

If you lived in a 55 and over community like I do you'd realized there's a lot you don't want to see. 

Sal go down to the Villages and there is a lot you don't want to see or believe.  Its crazy gown there.

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 hours ago, Sal1950 said:

If you lived in a 55 and over community like I do you'd realized there's a lot you don't want to see. 

 

Ha!

[patagent]

On 5/27/2017 at 1:08 AM, firedog said:

That may be true, but also irrelevant.

The question for bean counters will be: is the segment a positive revenue generator/profit maker? The answer is highly likely to be yes. In the streaming universe, a community willing to subscribe at $20 a month is highly unusual and desireable.

 

Not necessarily.  The fixed cost for Spotify and Tidal should be in the same ballpark.  I would rather have 50 million subscribers paying me $10 a month as opposed to 1 million subscribers paying me $20.  The problem with Tidal is not that it has only ~1 million subscribers paying $20 a month.  The problem is that its $10 a month offering isn't doing nearly as well as other stream providers.

[james45974]

56 minutes ago, patagent said:

 

Not necessarily.  The fixed cost for Spotify and Tidal should be in the same ballpark.  I would rather have 50 million subscribers paying me $10 a month as opposed to 1 million subscribers paying me $20.  The problem with Tidal is not that it has only ~1 million subscribers paying $20 a month.  The problem is that its $10 a month offering isn't doing nearly as well as other stream providers.

I have wondered about this.  Tidal's subscriber numbers seem to have been fairly stagnant lately, depending on whose numbers you believe.  It occurs to me that the audiophile market has been close to tapped out and the only way to get more $20/month subscribers is to expand territoriality.

 

They also seem to have an identity crisis of sorts, are they a low cost, mainstream pop oriented, standard quality outlet or a higher cost, non-pop oriented, higher quality outlet?  The high end isn't really that much interested in the pop end and the pop end isn't that much interested in the high quality end.  They are burning the candle at both ends, can they succeed in both or even one of those markets?

 

There is tons of competition at the low end and if the high end has such promise and potential then someone else would have jumped into the market by now.  Look, Apple has been in the music business with iTunes since April of 2003, 14 years, with enviable brand recognition, infrastructure, and customer base, yet still no perceived interest in higher quality than mp3.  Even Apple Music seems to be kind of a yawner, not taking the world by storm.

 

Another competitor that isn't mentioned much is Amazon Prime. All Prime members have access to streaming music, and as estimated from financial reports earlier this year it is estimated that there are 65 million members in the US and 80 million world wide. 

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/17/amazon-hints-at-its-big-secret-how-many-prime-members-it-has.html'

 

I feel that the world of streaming revolves around the concept of "good enough" for most people.  They don't actively shop around because their familiar service is good enough and there really isn't much incentive to change.

[Sal1950]

59 minutes ago, james45974 said:

I feel that the world of streaming revolves around the concept of "good enough" for most people.  They don't actively shop around because their familiar service is good enough and there really isn't much incentive to change.

Agreed. If you look at Spotify and the $10 320 mbs tier, the sound quality takes some good gear and ear to hear the difference from lossless much of the time. Joe Sixpack is perfectly happy there and the audiophile market doesn't wheel enough numbers. With the labels setting the costs there's no way to competitively market based on price. From everything I read Tidal has a ways to go before they can attract customers for Spotify based on the ergonomics. The future will be interesting.

[james45974]

16 minutes ago, Sal1950 said:

Agreed. If you look at Spotify and the $10 320 mbs tier, the sound quality takes some good gear and ear to hear the difference from lossless much of the time. Joe Sixpack is perfectly happy there and the audiophile market doesn't wheel enough numbers. With the labels setting the costs there's no way to competitively market based on price. From everything I read Tidal has a ways to go before they can attract customers for Spotify based on the ergonomics. The future will be interesting.

Sal, this brings up a question in my mind.  I am not a student of the streaming business but I wonder where the growth is going to be coming from in this segment.  Is the business starting to reach a plateau of customers where the only growth is from cannibalizing your competitors?  How is the conversion rate from free to paid subscriptions?  Are new customers in new markets the only viable growth opportunity?  I don't see people paying multiple companies for streaming services, one and done seems to be the rule if paying by subscription.

[bobbmd]

12 hours ago, mav52 said:

Sal go down to the Villages and there is a lot you don't want to see or believe.  Its crazy gown there.

Is it true the Villages has the highest STD rates in all of Florida including the Panhandle and Miami and they all have TIDAL HiFi and only listen to MQA albums especially those endorsed by Jay Z or whoever?? Sort of like 'some 80 year white priestess who made JUJU all night long'! (that is from a Tom Russell album not in MQA)

bobbmd

[mav52]

33 minutes ago, bobbmd said:

Is it true the Villages has the highest STD rates in all of Florida including the Panhandle and Miami and they all have TIDAL HiFi and only listen to MQA albums especially those endorsed by Jay Z or whoever?? Sort of like 'some 80 year white priestess who made JUJU all night long'! (that is from a Tom Russell album not in MQA)

bobbmd

They all play golf

[watercourse]

1 hour ago, bobbmd said:

Is it true the Villages has the highest STD rates in all of Florida including the Panhandle and Miami and they all have TIDAL HiFi and only listen to MQA albums especially those endorsed by Jay Z or whoever?? Sort of like 'some 80 year white priestess who made JUJU all night long'! (that is from a Tom Russell album not in MQA)

bobbmd

WTF??? You just planted the seeds of a nightmare. Thank you.

[Sal1950]

4 hours ago, bobbmd said:

Is it true the Villages has the highest STD rates in all of Florida including the Panhandle and Miami and they all have TIDAL HiFi and only listen to MQA albums especially those endorsed by Jay Z or whoever?? Sort of like 'some 80 year white priestess who made JUJU all night long'! (that is from a Tom Russell album not in MQA)

bobbmd

I don't know, did you get your same insider info that Chris gets? 

[Sal1950]

5 hours ago, james45974 said:

Sal, this brings up a question in my mind.  I am not a student of the streaming business but I wonder where the growth is going to be coming from in this segment.  Is the business starting to reach a plateau of customers where the only growth is from cannibalizing your competitors?

I haven't studied the numbers but that very well might be the case.  Witness the struggles of subscription radio, ie XM, Sirius, etc. If you have a fat wallet where a handful of these aren't even noticed that's one thing. But for Joe Sixpack how many media-connectivity bills is he willing to swallow every month? Between all the various music feeds, cable/sat TV, Netflix, internet, cell/smart phones, etc; things have gotten more than a bit insane.

Makes me long for the good ole days when Radio and TV where free, and the telephone was billed by the minute at long distance rates if further than a few blocks away, so you used it sparingly.

[Teresa]

3 hours ago, Sal1950 said:

...how many media-connectivity bills is he (she) willing to swallow every month?...

 

In my case that would be zero, none, nada. I have two monthly bills, one for my rent and one for my corded landline telephone.

 

3 hours ago, Sal1950 said:

...Between all the various music feeds, cable/sat TV, Netflix, internet, cell/smart phones, etc; things have gotten more than a bit insane...

 

I agree and that is why I don't subscribe to any of them. 

 

Wi-Fi internet is included with my rent. Perhaps if they didn't offer free internet my rent would be slightly less. If they didn't offer free internet, I would go back to using the Public Library's free internet and free wi-fi offered on our city busses.

 

3 hours ago, Sal1950 said:

...Makes me long for the good ole days when Radio and TV where free, and the telephone was billed by the minute at long distance rates if further than a few blocks away, so you used it sparingly.

 

The good ole days are still here, if you want them! (I do). I have 24 channels of free over-the-air HDTV with up to 1080i resolution. I get perfect reception with a cheap $15 antenna, and great sound quality. I have meet people who have switched from cable to free over-the-air TV, and they say the picture is slightly better over-the-air, and the sound quality is much better over-the-air. Could the reason be over-the-air digital TV is not compressed as much as cable?

 

If you have a landline you can still be billed by the minute for LD calls. Or if you must have a cell phone you can pay as you use with prepaid cell phone cards.

 

Remember it is all about choices.

 

 

[bobbmd]

7 hours ago, mav52 said:

They all play golf

the 9 hole courses or the championship ones and do they 'do it' in or on the golf carts?

[mav52]

2 hours ago, bobbmd said:

the 9 hole courses or the championship ones and do they 'do it' in or on the golf carts?

 

Well they have 32 Executive courses (9 hole) and 11 Championship courses and its difficult to get on the Championship  courses if your not a resident of the Villages.  But they are all well maintained courses.  The Polo arena for the horse crowd is pretty nice as well. 

[realhifi]

On 6/1/2017 at 2:08 AM, Sal1950 said:

 

Makes me long for the good ole days when Radio and TV where free, and the telephone was billed by the minute at long distance rates if further than a few blocks away, so you used it sparingly.

 

It still is free. I use a digital antenna for tv and get all the majors plus 5 or 6 other channels in hi def over the air for free.  I listen to 3 local stations quite a bit. One from a college that is eclectic (good jazz programming) one that is purely classical from and arts academy near by and one that is all news from NPR. All free. 

[mav52]

50 minutes ago, realhifi said:

 

It still is free. I use a digital antenna for tv and get all the majors plus 5 or 6 other channels in hi def over the air for free.  I listen to 3 local stations quite a bit. One from a college that is eclectic (good jazz programming) one that is purely classical from and arts academy near by and one that is all news from NPR. All free. 

Being free I think all depends where you live.  Where I live your lucky to even get good static on the TV without cable or a dish...

[Sal1950]

5 hours ago, realhifi said:

 

It still is free. I use a digital antenna for tv and get all the majors plus 5 or 6 other channels in hi def over the air for free.  I listen to 3 local stations quite a bit. One from a college that is eclectic (good jazz programming) one that is purely classical from and arts academy near by and one that is all news from NPR. All free. 

4 hours ago, mav52 said:

Being free I think all depends where you live.  Where I live your lucky to even get good static on the TV without cable or a dish...

Yes, reliable reception of the VHF/UHF banded digital TV stations is fine for urban/suburban folks. But for a VERY large number of more rural customers those awesome HD over-air stations are only a rumor. 

On top of that once you get accustomed to watching content like that supplied by National Geo, History, or even the movies from AMC to SyFy, etc; it's so hard to put up with the sitcom and melodrama crap provided by the major networks...

It's an addiction.  LOL

 

[Toolio]

I spend most of my time in Brasil, but I also have a house a small city in Ontario, Canada. The number of OTA channels available there is exactly zero. Sometimes it's not about choice at all, lol. But it does have gigabit Internet.

[John Eaton]

Didn’t know where else to put this but Tidal is not working on any of my three Windows 10 PC’s this morning.  It is working fine on my iPhone on the same network. 

When I hit play, the wheel just continues to rotate as if buffering.

I did do a windows update on one of the 3 PC’s last night but neither non-updated PC is playing Tidal either.

All three PC's play iHeart radio and JRiver just fine.

Is anyone else encountering this issue?

I apologize as I’m sure this is the wrong area for this post.

[John Eaton]

^^^^^^

Never mind.  Working now.

Gilda,

[mav52]

1 hour ago, John Eaton said:

^^^^^^

Never mind.  Working now.

Gilda,

See, threads like this are just magical

[rickca]

CEO Westergren is out at Pandora.  This is likely due to the recent acquisition of a 19% stake by Sirius XM for $480 milllion.  

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, rickca said:

CEO Westergren is out at Pandora.  This is likely due to the recent acquisition of a 19% stake by Sirius XM for $480 milllion.  

 

If Pandora had a global footprint, it would be the best streaming service in the world. Sure, lossless would be good for many of us, but its gnome project and radio capabilities are second to none. It would be cool to see Tidal merge with Padora. Tidal is global and Pandora has all the tech.