Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat TIDAL - $20 Vs £20

A reasonably long-term Spotify subscriber, I'm currently on the trial of TIDAL HiFi. I'm liking it, but I'm not liking the UK price of £20 at double that of Spotify.

Am wondering whether it's possible for a user in the UK to get the US pricing of $20 (close to £15) - perhaps using a VPN? I have a good friend in the States, so could arrange payment on a US-registered credit card if necessary.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge to guide me, please?

Andy 😎

I understand your pain but I decided that artists need paying more than Spotify pay and music isn't free. I coupled that with Roon and Sooloos integration plus MQA and came to a conclusion that even with the price issue with regards £/$ (slightly annoying) it's a bargain. Life is too short.
Just my view. I know it's no help Andy. I'm sure the tech savvy guys can help.

Andy, a US VPN should do the trick. Once you have registered Tidal doesn't seem to bother where you actually are. You can just login and you will get the US service.

Be aware this means you will get the US album listings. There are some differences.
E.g you get the Depeche Mode albums whilst in the U.K. you do not.

What does the $/£ price differentials cover? Is it costs/exchange rates, or are Tidal and/or artists getting more profit from some geographic locations than others? £20/$20 are rather convenient numbers... have not crunched them myself.

Do the artists benefit more from the HiFi service? Or is that just to cover running costs/profit to Tidal?

Serious questions, I don't know the answers.

Not quite the same but big differences all the same, I guess it is just the way the world works, swings and roundabouts.

Confirmed Recommended Retail Pricing for the new Special Edition Loudspeaker models is;

DSP5200 SE $20,000.00
DSP5200HC/VC SE $10,000.00
DSP7200 SE $46,000.00
DSP7200HC/VC SE $23,000.00
DSP8000 SE $80,000.00
DSP8000VC SE $40,000.00

Current exchange rate of approx 1.3 makes 8k's >£61k

It's all relative IMHO.

Until 2-3 years ago when I added Tidal to Sooloos and then Roon, I was buying 5-10 CD's per month. It was/is my hobby so I had absolutely no issue with that.

I no longer buy silver discs of any sort (music or film) and by comparison the £20 for Tidal to be OTT. SKY TV costs me £100 per month by comparison. I do wince at that especially as my ££'s contribute to the ridiculous transfer fees for the likes of Neymar to PSG.

I access way more music on Tidal than I did buying those silver discs.
I never add to the library anything I don't like (I did have a load of CD's I didn't rate much). Plus I don't have to store another 1000 CD's somewhere.

That I access a lot of MQA on Tidal is the cherry on the top.

YMMV

Thanks for your thoughts, tips and comments everyone.

Am all for artists getting their fair share of the revenues - and gather that Tidal is better than most in this regard.

I'd reckon that Tidal works out everything, including the artist's cut, in its base currency of the $ - and the £1 for $1 pricing (or closer to this than the prevailing exchange rate for bigger-ticket items) is just a common practice among many firms. While the market seems to bear it for the likes of buying a download from Apple, I'm thinking there might be a little more price sensitivity for Tidal's £240/year - which might hold back take-up and thus dampen the prospective revenue for Tidal and for artists.

Here in South Africa, the full monty Tidal cost $10 a month , and folk still complain it's too much..spending 10x the yearly subs on a cable is considered ok tho....

😂 Oh, the vagaries of the human condition!

Wow; Bruce has got his work cut out!

I'm on the verge of taking the jump to Tidal & we get the full-fat feed for €20 here in Italy; that's ~ £18.40 at current (poor) rates. $20 = £15.60 at today's rates for our American friends.

Perhaps somebody at Tidal just likes to see "20" a lot.

Are the Tidal price comparisons like for like when local taxes are included?

Hector