Tidal’s new price completely changes high-quality music streaming

Tidal is changing its pricing structure and halving what it costs to listen to the high-res music service’s best formats. The new pricing plan matches Spotify’s, completely altering how users might start to view high-res music streaming.

Tidal has always been at the top of my list for music streaming services, but it’s by far the most expensive. At $20/month, it was hard to recommend to casual listeners, even though the music quality was superior with FLAC and Dolby Atmos access so users with decent listening equipment would be able to hear details in full.

Now, tidal is scrapping that price point, consolidating HiFi Plus and other HiFi tiers into one singular plan, named the “Tidal” plan. The new plan costs $10.99/month and offers the exact same quality as the previously most expensive plan, including access to FLAC and Dolby Atmos tracks and the constant of lossless streaming.

At first, it was thought that Tidal was manipulating its pay structure for contributing artists, as it’s been known in the past to pay artists more per play than other streaming options. However, in a statement made to 9to5Google, Tidal has noted that it will continue to pay artists in the same way.

This decision was made after careful consideration of consumer needs, our current pricing, and our long-term commitment to artists. The new single TIDAL subscription tier is consistent with the industry standard to make premium audio formats available at a lower price, and artist payouts will continue to align with rights holders agreements.

The only way to make Tidal more expensive than $10.99/month for an individual user is to add the DJ Extension, which is only for those who need the add-on for hardware integrations. Other than those who need it, the average listener will be paying the same price as they would with Spotify, a music service that still does not offer a lossless option.

Spotify currently costs $10.99/month and offers many features that have undoubtedly contributed to the service’s popularity. The new AI DJ, Jam feature, and endless amount of curated playlists make it what it is. However, it does not offer a lossless experience like Tidal or even Apple Music does. Spotify has acknowledged the possibility of a HiFi suite coming sometime in the future, but most have given up since the service talked about it literal years ago.

If $10.99/month is the price you’re already paying and you’re looking for a service that offers high-res audio, Tidal is now the place to be. The monthly cost is seemingly no longer going to be a deterrent. What will be a deterrent is Tidal’s sometimes underwhelming artist and track suggestions, but I’ll take that any day for $120 less per year than the previous cost.

Tidal’s new pricing structure is set to be in place on April 10. From that point, the individual Tidal plan will be $11/month while the Family Plan will be $17.