Less whatever Spotify would charge for CD quality.

There's a lot to consider here, and I don't pretend that I'm an expert of the economics of the industry or the streaming business models.

Spotify has to build out and maintain infrastructure for non-paying users. Sure there is advertising revenue, but ultimately what Spotify pays artists is paltry.

Tidal pays more to artists because it's model is 100% paying subscribers. If Tidal gets momentum and artists (other than Jay-Z and Co.) refuse to put their material on Spotify, then the status quo has changed.

But it's really hard to see how this will pan out. I would be surprised if Spotify is not considering or actively implementing a CD (or even MQA) quality service, but that's a lot more infrastructure to build out to support storage of the entire catalogue; and with a lower average $/user, that may prove prohibitively costly.

Some people are dismissing Tidal subscription numbers, but I feel that any number of paying users is a win for music. Ultimately, I hope that we will have a choice.

Roon Developer and ex-moderator of this Forum
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