Last week, we reported briefly on the launch of Jay-Z’s new paid music streaming service Tidal. The launch was attended by a huge cross section of upper tier performers in the industry and while the event promised a lot in sentiment, not a lot of specifics were discussed about the service. So far, not many people seem incentivised to invest subscription dollar for the promised high fidelity audio and vague exclusives and no matter how good this song is, I don’t think this new exclusive Beyoncé video clip is going to do much to change that.
It’s an undeniably beautiful track with a very simple piano melody that allows Beyoncé to show off her incredibly emotive vocals but for a first wave exclusive, having it filmed on a poor quality Handicam (or a Samsung phone) kind of undermines everything that was said at the conference about paying for a higher standard of audio and video quality. The fact that this has already been ripped to YouTube (resplendent in screen tearing and Tidal buffering issues) further depreciates the $10 subscription fee for anyone who was tempted by the service’s video capabilities.
Even calling it ‘directed’ by Jay-Z feels like an attempt to just slap his name on it so it appears to be better than it is. Let’s face it, no matter the video’s potential to offer an insight into the intimately loving and unpolished lives of Bey and Z, it’s an unedited one-take video that you’d expect to just incidentally dredge up one day on YouTube like an old vid of Kanye smiling and wearing a backpack.
It’s also interesting that one of the first exclusives to drop on Tidal is one by Beyoncé. As we previously mentioned, some of her music is currently available exclusively on Beats’ streaming service so this brandishing of a single artist’s content by different provider companies as having limited availability could potentially create a tumultuous new issue in the industry if it becomes a widespread habit. Time will tell.
More Bey
Listen: Beyoncé – ‘7/11’ (Skrillex & Diplo’s Jack Ü remix)
Watch: Broad City’s Abbi and Ilana play ‘fuck, marry, kill’ with Beyoncé, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj
Jay-Z and Beyoncé are working on a joint album