Tidal Music Vs Spotify : Which is the Better Music Streaming Service?
It is no secret that music consumption has evolved over the past few years. from the evolution of music devices like cassettes to CDs AND DVDs, and then from CDs to USBs, and from USBs and flash drives to online music streaming applications like Spotify, Tidal, Joox, Pandora, Amazon, and Apple Music Soundcloud, YouTube, and many more has revolutionized the way of music consumption.in this digital era music lovers can listen to their favorite tracks with just some clicks.
The different music apps are competing with each other for being a prime and the best music streaming service. these offer their free and premium versions for the users. The free versions come with certain limitations like ads, limited skips, and standard shuffle, while the premium versions require a subscription.
These premium versions of these apps are the base for the competition between the apps on the features they offer. In the ever-evolving era of music streaming applications Tidal Music vs Spotify is a crucial topic for audiophiles and music enthusiasts. these two platforms are the leading streaming platforms in the music streaming industry owing to the unique and sumptuous features they offer. Spotify, no doubt has made itself the market leader in the music streaming industry and evolved significantly over the past 10 years. while Tidal, which emerged a few years later than Spotify is also a prime competitor of Spotify because of the unique blend of features like lossless sound quality, video and extra exclusive content, lossless sound quality, and hi-res streaming. You may want to see comparision of Spotify Vs Apple Music, Spotify Vs Deezer.
Difference Between Spotify and Tidal
in this article below you will learn a detailed comparison of both these music giants. It is tricky to opt between Spotify and Tidal because choosing the one that suits you well requires a complete knowledge of both the music giants. Below you will get to know all the exclusive and incredible features offered by Spotify and Tidal that will surely help you to choose the best streaming platform for yourself.
Which application is better? Quick Answer
What is Spotify?
Sweden-based music streaming service, Spotify was launched in 2006. Spotify has made an edge over other music platforms owing to its incredible features like Music discovery, AI DJ, device compatibility, countless podcasts, and collaborative playlists with friends, these are some of the salient features of Spotify that make it distinctive from other music giants in the music streaming industry.
What is Tidal?
Having a Norwegian American origin by Aspiro, emerged in the year 2014, Tidal has become one of the fan-centered platforms for audiophiles .it has over 100 million tracks in its music library and has an advantage over other music packs because of the HiFi lossless audio streaming quality it offers.
Tidal also stands out as a prominent competitor to other streaming applications because of its special features like it uses FLAC quality audio a lossless sound quality format and is better than standard audio quality used in MP3 or other compressed audio streams. Other features like user-friendly audio, excellent curated content, a large catalog, and a rich music library make it stand tall among other unique streaming music services.
Difference Between Spotify and Tidal
| Full Specs | Spotify | Tidal |
| Free Version Available | Yes | Only in US |
| Hi-Res Audio | No | Yes |
| Live Programming | No | No |
| Song Lyrics | Yes | Yes |
| Non-Music Content | Yes | Yes |
| AI DJ | Yes | No |
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Pricing plans
Of the significant factors that you must consider while you decide between Spotify and Tidal is the pricing plan of these apps. you should be aware of the expanses that you will have listening to your favorite tracks. Below you will see a pricing plan comparison for Spotify and Tidal.
Spotify dominates over other music streaming apps as it offers a premium as well as a free plan for those who are unable to buy a subscription but want to listen latest melodies. the free version of Spotify comes with certain restrictions you will have limited shuffles and skips per hour and the streaming will be accompanied by ads. But with the premium version, all these restrictions will be eliminated and you can make the most out of this app freely without any limitations or restrictions. Spotify offers different premium plans for individuals, students, duos,s, and families. The premium plans it offers usually range from $5.99/month for students,$12.99 per month for duo to $15.99 per month for families of up to 6 members. To avail of a premium family membership all the members of the family must be residing in the same house.
Tidal also offers a free listening tier called Tidal Free but just like Spotify it has the same restrictions in the free version. But to enjoy Tidal Music you can check two premium plans on Tidal Music.
The Tidal HiFi music ranges from $9.99 – $14.99 for individuals and offers lossless audio quality and other premium features in its premium version. and the other plan Tidal HiFi Plus costs $15.99/month to $29.99/month. This Tidal HiFi Plus subscription plan offers all the premium perks along with Sony 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos Music.
Both Spotify and Tidal offer family pricing plans that allow adding up to 6 persons within one account who are living in the same location. When it comes to pricing, Tidal has domination over Spotify for offering 9216 kbps high-resolution music streaming in Lossless format This is the same price where Spotify provides just 320 kbps sound quality in lossy format. So Tidal, therefore, has an advantage in terms of pricing as it provides much better features at the same price as Spotify.
In addition to the above-given pricing plans, Tidal has a military premium for which current military and first responders pay a bit more at $5.99 and $11.99 per month.
| Service | Free | Individual | Family |
| Spotify | Yes | $9.99/month | $16.99/month |
| Tidal HiFi | Yes | $9.99/month | $14.99/month |
| Tidal HiFi Plus | N/A | $19.99/month | $29.99/month |
Tidal Music vs Spotify: FEATURES
Tidal music and Spotify both offer startling features so its tricky to decide which one suits best your needs and preferences. We will compare both services in terms of price, sound streaming quality, device compatibility, and some other features.
Spotify is renowned for its rich and vast music library with versatile nature of content like updated music and podcasts. More features like artist background, video content, lyrics, and are salient features of Spotify.
However, Tidal also emerged as a prime alternative to Spotify when it comes to features. The Tidal music streaming service costs $9.99 a month and offers HiFi audio quality, movies, Direct artist payouts, podcasts, and extra audio-visual making it stand tall among other music streaming applications in the market.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Content
Content is what the user seeks in any platform.it’s the first thing that the users intend no matter how well a platform offers unique features , content is always something that makes a platform a big success. Spotify and Tidal try to do their best to provide users with the desired content with over 85 Million tracks in their music libraries.
TIDAL has over 90 million tracks, while Spotify offers about 82 million; it is certain that both services have a rich and vast library of musical content. Some artists release their tracks on Tidal even months before the songs are released on the other platforms.
Spotify had been accepting music submissions from anyone, be it a third-party distributor such as CDBaby or submitted directly to Spotify. However, in 2019, the company disposed of its direct-upload program, and now independent musicians have to seek a distributor to get their music on this platform.
Tidal offers high-resolution tracks with its 360 reality audio and Dolby Atmos technologies. Spotify has over 5 Million podcasts along with its vast music collection.TIDAL also has many podcasts with extra content like 450,000 videos, which include music videos, movies, and documentaries about music and filmed live performances. Hence, both platforms have unparalleled content that gives them an edge over other music streaming services out there in the market.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Sound Quality
Tidal music offers an unmatched audio quality. Tidal music service has four audio quality options ranging from Normal, high, HiFi, and Tidal MQA (Master Quality Authenticated).
- The normal audio quality offers 96 kbps and it’s beneficial for saving data when listening to music on mobile internet.
- The high streaming quality delivers 320 kbps with AAC format for standard streaming, a lossy audio streaming quality as Spotify
- HiFi option delivers 1411 kbps FLAC lossless format which is a high-quality audio and best for audiophiles.
- The HiFi Plus audio quality also known as MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) offers 9216 kbps called master bitrate and it is an artist-authenticated format. However, a limited number of tracks on Tidal are available in this MQA format.
On the other hand, Spotify works on AAC lossy format that delivers up to 320 kbps audio streaming quality which is useful for those who want to save data on mobile internet. recently spotify declared to launch its HiFi audio streaming option with lossless format that will provide CD-quality audio but this feature is yet to launch. So, in terms of Audio Quality, Tidal Music is better than Spotify.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Music Discovery
Long ago when music streaming had not evolved much people were unable to customize music according to their taste. Music was played in a specific order, but today thanks to digital streaming platforms, you can customize music according to your preferences and music taste.
Both TIDAL and Spotify offer unmatched music discovery features and users can browse by genre, activity, mood, and more. TIDAL and Spotify, both the platforms offer a radio feature that will recommend and assist you in listening to music similar to your music taste and listening history. Both streaming packs use algorithms to understand your music choices and recommend songs based on your history, but how they do so differs.
Spotify offers a Music Discovery feature named as Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Daily Mix. The “Discover Weekly” feature learns your listening habits through your history and recommends songs from the top artists and genres you like and listen to.“Daily Mix” playlists also collect the content that you’ve been listening to a lot lately and similar songs and genres, and is very much alike as TIDAL’s My Mix. These features use AI algorithms to record and learn a user’s listening history, preferences, and interests and curate a playlist tailored to the user’s needs.
TIDAL also curates up to eight playlists called “My Mix” that include the top eight genres you mostly listen to and have saved to “My Collection.” These My Mix playlists are not updated on a weekly basis like Spotify but rather they keep updating gradually. if you like any “My Mix” , you can save it as a playlist in your library to keep it from losing. Though tidal my mix resembles Spotify but Spotify’s music discovery feature works on algorithms that make it a better option for personalized recommendations and music discovery.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: User Interface
The user interface is the very thing that creates a first impression on the users. It impacts the way users get influenced by an app or website.
Spotify and Tidal both are the best services among other music streaming and both have user-friendly and intuitive app interfaces. Both apps have easy-to-navigate interfaces and customizable home screens. Though Tidal has a modern interface it is equally easy to navigate.
Both services have white text with a dark background interface that visually appeals to the users.in Spotify, you will see your library section while Tidal has the My Collection button where you can find and filter your favorite content by artists, genres, playlists, and albums you are searching for.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Social sharing
When you surf the internet you always want to share the media, findings, and entertainment you like the most with your friends and social circle.in this era, all digital platforms and services are equipped with social sharing features. Spotify is a bit dominant over other streaming services in the social sharing of music and podcasts.
You can host listening parties and create and share “Collaborative playlists” with your friends where multiple users can add and remove songs and enjoy the same tracks at a time.
You will be able to view your friends’ listening activities or playlists in the Friend Activity section on Spotify which lets you know about the songs and playlists your friends are currently listening to. But, if you don’t want to share your activity publicly or with your friends you can always disable the feature that publishes your activity.
As for Tidal, it has limited music-sharing features. A “Tidal Connect” feature on this platform lets you share music with your friends and social media profile. And you can follow friends on the Tidal app to see and listen to their publicly available playlists.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Support for Artists
Spotify and Tidal both have pay-per-stream criteria for artists through which they pay artists for the music people listen to. On average Spotify pays artists around $0.003 – $0.005 per stream and this payment is based on complex criteria. So if a song gets 1000 streams, the artist gets $3-$5 per 1000 streams. Spotify lets the artists make a playlist and then add it to their profile, and the Concerts tab shows the artist’s latest upcoming shows in your area. Moreover, the artists may get their Spotify singles recorded in Spotify’s studios.
On the contrary tidal is a streaming platform for artists because Tidal pays its artists more per stream than Spotify. On average tidal’s pay per stream is around $0.0125. So if a song gets a thousand streams, the artist will be paid $12.50.
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Device support
Device compatibility of the music streaming platform is a vital factor for its true success. if the users can listen to their favorite tracks on any device of choice they will surely go for that platform. Spotify has a Spotify connect feature that allows the user to stream Spotify music on several devices. Spotify offers mobile apps for Android and iOS, and desktop apps for Mac and Windows. Moreover, you will be able to play Spotify web player on major web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, and Safari. Spotify is also compatible with a lot of other devices for mainstream users like Amazon Echo, Nest Hub, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Apple Watch, Fitbit Sense, Google Home, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, smart TVs,, car speakers and gaming consoles and many more that you will find stunning.
Tidal Connect is also equipped with device support or compatibility features. lately tidal offers different apps for Amazon Alexa, Samsung Gear, Vizio, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, iOS, MacOS, Roku, and Windows..but somehow tidal lacks on some devices where Spotify has an edge in the device sport feature
Tidal Music vs Spotify: Some additional features
There are so many features besides the mentioned above on which we can compare both tidal and Spotify,
Spotify
Tidal Music
Tidal or Spotify: My personal opinion
In my personal opinion, Spotify and Tidal have a neck-to-neck tie. If you are a hardcore music fan and don’t compromise on stream quality, then Tidal is your best friend. If you are trying to save internet data and still listen to incredible content, then Spotify is your go-to service.
Bottom Line
Tidal and Spotify both compete with each other in a variety of ways and try to be a best and prime alternative of the other.in this article we have given a detailed information aand comparison of both the streaming services that will surely help you to determine which platform suits you the best.if you are fanatic about music quality and want to listen to a high resolution audio the go for tidal.but in case you want to save your data while listening to incredible content and customized playlists then spotify is your way to go.hope it would be helpful ,if you still have some questions you may ask in the section below.
