I can’t speak, nor do I comprehend, more than ten words of French. But I love this band’s music, nevertheless. At 10:45 PST this morning, Indochine streams live from Paris, and I am so down for it. Maybe I’ll Chromecast to the tellie from one device, while working on another (got lots of writing to do).
The live stream is one of the many benefits subscribing to Tidal, which now sells lossless albums, too. Oh la la. The $19.99 monthly service gets better and better. I hear the difference listening to tracks encoded with the 1411kbps Free Lossless Audio Codec versus AAC or MP3.
Critics who whine that Tidal is all about money-grouping musicians are clueless. Jay Z and crew’s objectives are larger. The service is about artists, but bringing better performances to their audiences, whether prerecorded or live. These musicians are artists—like painters or sculptors, they care much about the quality of their work and its presentation. Lossless tracks are a lot closer to the music’s original recording than are heavily compressed AAC or MP3 tracks.
Apple Music discovery is better and services like Spotify cost less and are more established. But the Tidal sound, exclusives, and engagement with the musicians is why I pay more. Absolutely, I consider 20 bucks a month for music streaming subscription service to be a luxury. It’s one I can’t let go.