Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Tidal MQA albums found so far

I am not convinced that MQA for high quality sound is Tidal's primary driver, I suspect MQA as a way to deliver high resolution files in a smaller data size and therefore reduced network bandwidth cost is uppermost in their minds which might go some way to explain the apparent unfocused and haphazard way MQA files continue to be released and tagged?

YMMV

Russ

That's a pretty good theory Russ.

Ken

Hi Rod
I'm afraid that Tidal has nothing to do with this decision.......it will ALL be down to the label

I have no idea what Label that Rodney is contracted to........but for some obscure licensing reason, his label is making a March 2017 choice not to make the MQA version available in the UK........that MAY change in April........or April 2074........but it will be the label's choice......and not Tidal's

We've briefly discussed "Dusty in Memphis" before.......and again for some obscure reason, her label is not licensing the MQA version for the UK........makes zero sense from the outside.......and probably not from the inside either

I know that doesn't help you in any way.......but availability will be down to the Labels.......and neither Tidal nor MQA Ltd will have any sway on the matter, I'm afraid

I look forward to the day they release and promote MQA on CD too. Why would I ever pay full retail for a CD, especially a new release that I can stream in MQA.
It's probably too early for this anyways as the general public don't know what MQA even is.

The subject Rodney Crowell CD released yesterday certainly does not show MQA on the label. The record label Is New West, home to Steve Earle, Drive By Truckers, and many other critical favorites of Americana or Roots Rock. I think that the bandwidth theory may be(not New West specifically) Studios' primary consideration also. MQA on CD will be a niche market which might flourish in Japan, for instance, like other technologies. I guess Dr Aix and others could sell downloads and CDs under this space-saving rationale.

Re MQA on CD. I was passing a major record store with a Wall of Ed Sheehan CD's which made me think that if studios only want one file and this has an MQA release, they may as well have hidden it on the CD.
Certainly nich but it needn't be as I see it. A great way to boost physical sales too.

You are aware that many Tidal MQA albums that are available in the UK are not available in the US. Same with the highres audio website. \

I didn't think editors looked for excuses, just opportunities to change things a little bit.

Hector

Yes, I'm aware about the hi-res audio websites, which is why it's a pet hate. Much as regional encoding on DVD/Bluray is.

If you're making a release available at all in a particular market, it makes no sense whatsoever not to release it in a particular file format when the work to create that format has already been done. That process will have cost money, so surely you'd want to make the most of recouping that extra money as widely as possible? It's essentially like saying 'Oh, we'll release the CD in France, but Germany will have to make do with MP3'. But to the artist the rights in the song won't be format specific, they will be the copyright and publishing rights, and possibly performance rights, so I can't see it having anything to do with licensing?

Can't see that being a label decision, as was suggested above, unless, e.g., MQA are charging Tidal an extra fee per region, which Tidal passes on to the label, and then the label have to make a judgement call about whether to pay the extra to release MQA for a particular market, based on projected demand for the format for that artist, etc. With respect, if MQA are licensing in this way, I suggest their dream of becoming a de-facto standard is doomed from the outset.

Pure and total speculation... which also happens to be incorrect

There are many, many examples of Tidal, Spotify et al having certain tracks and albums available for particular countries only... and it's all dictated by the Labels... and not by Tidal or Spotify... and your speculation about MQA licensing is is again plain wrong

For the thirty-plus years I've been buying music, and frequenting record shops from NY to LA to London to Singapore... the Labels have always made what appear to be insane decisions about what Albums and Versions of those albums to release in those countries... and a similar "debate" has been happening for years about why e.g. a certain version of a Dylan / Beatles / Karajan album was only available in the US / UK / Germany / Japan

This debate won't go away anytime soon... and speculation as to the reasons behind it isn't going to help

Tidal have a lot of faults... but this MQA availability issue is not down to them or MQA Ltd... as it equally applies to FLAC Albums... and even selected tracks within albums that are otherwise available

As an example... try and fit your above theory to the the facts below

Dusty Springfield is a British artist... who has sold a lot of albums in the UK and around the world

Thus an MQA version of her best ever selling album is bound to do well in the UK... and be worth it to the Label to pay "MQA licensing cost" that may be required to release or stream that album in the UK

Rhino / Warner are a US label and control the rights to "Dusty in Memphis" in the UK, Europe and the US

Wilson Pickett is a US artist... who hasn't sold as well as Dusty in the UK

Again, Rhino / Warner control the licensing and availability of Wilson's catalog in the UK, Europe and the US

So apply your MQA Licensing Cost theory to the above... and obviously Rhino will make Dusty available in the UK [where it will do well]... while making Wilson available in the US

So what did they ACTUALLY do??

Dusty in Memphis in MQA is a US ONLY album... not available in the UK... while 12 of Wilson's albums are available to stream in the UK

And there are literally hundreds to thousands of such decsions that can be detailed and debated... and in the end, make zero sense to anybody who isn't privy to the insider detais of label licensing and how it works

Thank you Hector - I didn't know about this way of accessing Tidal content and it does seem to find everything. Unfortunately I have quite a lot of non-MQA Tidal content so it is still a case of separating the wheat from the chaff, but your post is very helpful.