TIDAL has stopped the Direct Artist Payouts (DAP) and now redirects funds to its TIDAL RISING program.
The DAP program saw a percentage of TIDAL HiFi Plus subscribers' fees directed to their top-streamed artist, however, the experiment was "far short of our goal," said TIDAL CEO Jesse Dorogusker. In contrast, the TIDAL RISING program supports emerging artists through education, custom promotion, and direct funding.
TIDAL has previously enrolled 70,000 artists in the DAP program and paid out $500,000 during the experiment but starting April, TIDAL will no longer allocate a percentage of HiFi Plus membership fees to top-listened artists.
In January, TIDAL announced an alliance with Universal Music Group (UMG) to develop a new economic model for music streaming that could better reward artists. The two companies plan to research how fan engagement can generate greater commercial value for every type of artist, exploring different economic models that could deepen retention, accelerate subscriber growth and better monetize fandom.
The music industry is continuously exploring new ways to benefit artists, and TIDAL's decision to redirect funds to emerging artists reflects the growing trend once again. The partnership between TIDAL and UMG demonstrates a willingness to experiment with new models to reward artists and through harnessing fan engagement, music services and platforms could generate greater commercial value for every type of artist.