Tidal: Music streaming service lowers prices for hi-fi quality in new subscription

The music streaming service Tidal is adjusting its tariff model. From April 10, 2024, the existing HiFi and HiFi Plus subscription models will be merged. Music in hi-fi quality with up to 24-bit at 192 kHz and 3D audio will therefore be significantly cheaper in future.

New Tidal Subscriptions from April 2024

In November 2021, the music streaming service Tidal introduced two new music subscription models (we reported). Until now, interested parties had the choice between Tidal HiFi including CD quality with up to 16 bit and 44.1 kHz for 10.99 euros per month and Tidal HiFi Plus in hi-fi quality (24 bit, 192 kHz, including Dolby Atmos) for 19.99 euros per month.

This subscription model will be discontinued from April 10, 2024, as the company has now revealed. From now on, all features of both variants will be combined in a single tariff, which will be offered at the lower price of 10.99 euros per month. So anyone who has been using the HiFi Plus subscription up to now will save a whopping 45 percent in future.

The new subscription will simply be called “Tidal” and will include all the features of the previously more expensive model. These include high-res FLAC, MQA, Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio for over 100 million songs, around 650,000 music videos, expert playlists and more. The whole thing is of course ad-free.

The tariffs will also be adjusted for other subscription models. Families with up to six users will pay 16.99 euros/month in future, while students will have to pay 4.99 euros per month.

By adjusting its subscription model, Tidal wants to put further pressure on market leader Spotify from Sweden, whose hi-fi tariff, which has been in the pipeline for years, is still a long time coming. It was last announced last fall that the lossless streaming model would be launched under the name Spotify Supremium, but so far there is still no sign of this.

Tidal Free is being discontinued

However, the free Tidal Free tariff will go under the knife due to the restructuring of the subscription model on April 10, 2024 and will be discontinued without replacement. This is irrelevant in Germany anyway, as the free subscription with advertising was not offered here anyway.

The new Tidal subscription is undoubtedly attractive. Especially for all those who value the best possible audio quality when listening to music, as Tidal is still unmatched in this respect.

The price is in the middle range: Amazon Music Unlimited is slightly cheaper at 9.99 euros/month, while competitor Deezer is slightly more expensive at 11.99 euros/month. YouTube Music and Spotify Premium both currently also charge 10.99 euros per month for their subscription.