Just one day after Mumford and Sons went after Jay Z’s new “music industry-changing” service, Tidal, it seems that opponents of the streaming platform are coming out of the woodwork. Enter Ben Gibbard from alt-rock band Death Cab for Cutie, who had several things to say about Tidal, and none of them were particularly positive. In an interview with the Daily Beast, Gibbard touched on a number of subjects, including his disagreement with Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, his divorce from Zooey Deschanel, the making of his band’s new album Kintsugi, and the misfires of Tidal:
“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…There was a wonderful opportunity squandered to highlight what this service would mean for artists who are struggling and to make a plea to people’s hearts and pocketbooks to pay a little more for this service that was going to pay these artists a more reasonable streaming rate,” he continues. “And they didn’t do it. That’s why this thing is going to fail miserably.”
While no one knows the true amount of what artists get from being on Tidal, Jay promised at the unveiling that his service would offer the highest royalty percentage and top-tier artists could receive equity for “exclusive artist streams.” Gibbard argues that if they had presented this idea with realistic hard numbers and smaller artists, it could have been salvaged. Either way, that’s another person Jay is crossing off the summer BBQ invite list.
(Via the Daily Beast)
