Music is great, but tech is difficult
Of course, there's one thing seriously standing in the way of success for future events like Kanye's: technology. Scores of people reported having issues with the stream. Tidal can put together all the concerts/fashion shows it wants, but if no one is able to properly stream them, then it doesn't really matter. In fact, if these events are riddled with issues, it could do more damage to the service than good.
Yes, streaming a live event is different than streaming audio tracks from a server, and Tidal didn't even handle the technical aspects of the stream, but consumers aren't thinking about the technical difficulties involved. They're concerned with whether the service can do what it says it can. When trying to lure customers in, especially to a service that's more expensive than the rest, image is everything.
Tidal certainly has a future
For a service that was written off as a flop months ago, Tidal isn't doing too shabbily. But it certainly has a long way to go.
Of course, lowering its "HiFi" prices and letting its sound quality be a reason for customers to choose it would be a place to start, but in the absence of that, offering exclusive and high-profile content like the release of a new Kanye album is a great way to go - as long as it's not a one-time thing.
If Tidal can successfully become "the streaming service for album releases and other exclusive content," offering high-profile events like Yeezy 3 to all along with incentives for users to subscribe, it very well could become a major player in the industry.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Tidal evolves following Kanye's takeover. It's still a young company, and it seems like it's coming to the realization that just offering "better" audio quality isn't going to be enough to seriously compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. It's the extra stuff that really counts, and Tidal is on the right track with Kanye West. Now, it just needs to find another Kanye or two.
