TIDAL
The artist-friendly DSP: high-fidelity audio and a higher-payout ethos under Block ownership. It's smaller, but worth being on for the image and the payouts.
- Best for
- Hi-fi positioning and a payout ethos that favors real fans
- Skip if
- Chasing scale; the audience is small. Artists with polished masters, detailed credits, strong visuals, and audiences that value sound quality. However, most artists should still distribute here.
- First move
- Claim your artist profile and upload hi-res where possible. Claim your Artist Home profile, update its image, bio and links, verify credits, then try Upload and Spotlight if eligible.
- Watch out
- TIDAL Upload tracks do not earn streaming royalties, although selected tracks can receive $1,000 Spotlight awards. Eligibility varies by market, and fully AI-generated music is ineligible for monetization.
- Reach
- Industry-wide
- When
- Worth it once you have releases out.
- Based in
- United States