In a bid to streamline its subscription tiers and offer more competitive pricing, Tidal, the music streaming service owned by Square, has announced significant changes to its subscription plans. Effective April 10, Tidal will consolidate its premium features, including lossless, hi-res, and spatial audio content, into a single $11 per month individual plan.

Key Takeaways: 

• Tidal is simplifying its subscription tiers, merging its premium features into a single plan priced at $11 per month.
• The previous HiFi and HiFi Plus subscription tiers, priced at $20 per month, will be discontinued.
• Subscribers will have access to lossless, hi-res, and spatial audio content, including Dolby Atmos, within the $11 plan.
• Tidal's decision to streamline its offerings brings it in line with competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music, which also offer all available content within a single paid subscription.
• Existing customers on discontinued plans, such as Military/First Responder plans, can retain their subscriptions until June 10, 2024.

Previously, Tidal offered separate subscription tiers, with its HiFi and HiFi Plus plans priced at $20 per month, providing access to hi-res lossless and spatial audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio. However, with the upcoming changes, these tiers will be discontinued, and all premium content will be included in the $11 per month plan.

This move aligns Tidal's offering more closely with competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music, both of which offer all available content within a single paid subscription. It marks a departure from Tidal's previous strategy, where it differentiated itself through its higher-priced premium tiers and exclusive streaming formats.

One of the significant shifts in Tidal's strategy occurred in 2023 when the company announced plans to phase out its library of music in the MQA format, opting instead for the open-source FLAC format. This decision eliminated one of the few features that set Tidal apart from its competitors. 

As of December 2023, Tidal reported that its hi-res FLAC catalog is four times larger than its MQA catalog and continues to grow, with an average of 200,000 new hi-res tracks added each week.

Following the consolidation of its subscription tiers, Tidal will offer three main plans: the $11 per month individual plan, a $17 per month family plan accommodating up to six family members, and a discounted $5 per month student plan. All three plans will provide full access to Tidal's extensive library of over 110 million tracks in lossless audio, HiRes FLAC, and Dolby Atmos.

For users who wish to access Tidal's library via software- and hardware-based DJ tools, an additional fee of $9 per month will be required.

While Tidal is simplifying its subscription model to match its competitors, the company has also discontinued its discounted Military/First Responder plans. However, existing customers on these plans will be able to retain their subscriptions until June 10, 2024.

With Tidal's focus now on offering a more accessible and competitive subscription model, attention shifts to Spotify, which remains one of the few major streaming services without options for lossless, hi-res, or spatial audio content. 

Despite Spotify's repeated promises of a HiFi tier, no launch date has been announced, leaving Tidal, Apple Music, and Amazon Music as the leading contenders in the high-quality audio streaming market.