Jay Z and pals launch Tidal's premium tier option

Is the new £9.99 a month option a Spotify killer?

Jay Z took to the stage last night along with Madonna, Rihanna, Alicia Keys and his boo Beyonce to launch his music streaming service Tidal's new premium tier. It costs £9.99 a month (compared to the HiFi tier, which is £19.99 a month and was available previously).

You can access it through the Tidal.com website, or download the app for iOS or Android. It's also available on Sonos.

Tidal's aim is to help artists make more money, and is a reaction to the free streaming model used by Spotify and the like. The artists get double the usual royalties on the HiFi tier, but no more than any other streaming service on the premium tier.

That's enough about the artists. How does it stack up for us punters? Here's a quick comparison.

Tidal Spotify Deezer Rdio
Monthly fee £9.99/£19.99 Free/£9.99 Free/£9.99 Free/£9.99
Bitrate 96/320/1,411kbps 160/320kbps 1,411kbps 64/96/192/320kbps
Track library 25m "Over" 30m 35m 32m

Both Tidal streaming plans also give you extras like music videos and curated editorial.