That energy carried through a DJ set from Hot 97’s Cipha Sounds, a one-two punch from Brooklyn’s own Fabolous and Jay Z, and a Lil Wayne cameo. A hammering shared set from Rick Ross, Meek Mill (whose Drake beef hasn’t made him any less of a fan-favorite), DJ Khaled, and French Montana (who paid respect to both the incarcerated Bobby Shmurda and the late Chinx) drove the crowd into a frenzy. The crowd, a sea of Swag Surfin’ mostly black millennials, mirrored the artists onstage at any given moment during the concert’s flashy third act. Following Nick Jonas’s by-the-book delivery of his latest solo hit, “Levels,” the show’s special guests were almost exclusively nonwhite for the remainder of the show, starting with Vic Mensa (who is biracial) and ending with Jay Z himself. It was, for all intents and purposes, a hip-hop show. With those press releases out of the way, the rest of the night resembled something closer to Summer Jam than Global Citizens Festival. Again, Jay Z kept business and art closely intertwined. (the biggest crowd-pleaser at the halfway mark), brought out the cast of the buzzing YouTube show Money & Violence, confirming rumors that its second season would premiere on Tidal in January. Then came time for a bit of housekeeping: Radio personality Angie Martinez introduced Damian Marley as Tidal’s newest artist owner. Most were allowed a song apiece, saving room for the main course. Tidal has never touted artist discovery as a selling point in the way Spotify has tried to, and so it served some of its rising artists (Alessia Cara, Flatbush Zombies, Justine Skye) as light appetizers, along with smaller names like country newcomer Thomas Rhett and J.
In the time it took to identify some of the night’s first artists (the early birds were especially unfamiliar with the show’s opener, French band Indochine), their set was over. No encores, not much lingering applause, just a hello and a good-bye. (Prince, though originally billed as a headliner, failed to show.) They sped through the concert at the breakneck speed of models on the runway at New York Fashion Week each artist materialized onstage, performed their most recognizable hit, then made a hurried exit. The show saw Jay Z putting some of the company’s biggest shareholders - Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Usher, Lil Wayne - to work. Nevertheless, it was reason enough for Jay Z to call in some favors from his board of trustees and trot them out for the livestreamed Tidal X: 1020, an event that felt more like a sprint to the finish than the benefit marathon it claimed to be.
BEYONCE JAY Z TIDAL GIF LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO TRIAL
It’s a paltry milestone compared to competitors like Apple Music, which this week boasted 6.5 million paid subscribers among its total 15 million users, now that its free trial ended three weeks ago for those who signed up upon its June launch. Last month, Jay Z announced that the service had finally surpassed 1 million paid subscribers. The internet mocked him accordingly.īut on Tuesday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Tidal finally had cause to celebrate. Forgot about that,” he laughed, after his lawyer reminded him. Last week, when Jay Z testified in court about a “Big Pimpin’” sample he’s been sued over, he didn’t count Tidal among his many business ventures. Seven months on, Tidal has been caught in a maelstrom of bad press - most loudly on social media, where Jay Z is often criticized for failing to prove Tidal a worthy competitor in the overpopulated streaming wars, and vilified whenever Beyoncé releases a music video exclusively on the service. Each member of this exclusive squad handpicked by music’s most ambitious entrepreneur was positioned as an “artist owner.” But merging art and business in such a branded way looked to many as superficial as the declaration Jay Z had his Founding Artists sign, one by one, after which they posed for a group photo to hang on the boardroom wall before disappearing behind a neon-blue square above their Twitter handle. Except now they were each his business partner. Back in March, when Jay Z first entered the music-streaming ring, he did it with a stiff, glitzy press conference that brought to the stage a bevy of his famous friends: Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Madonna, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Jack White, Arcade Fire, and of course, Beyoncé.
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