In November 2021, when TIDAL launched its ‘Fan-centered royalties’ system, the music streaming firm additionally launched an initiative known as direct-to-artist payouts, aka DAP.

The DAP program sees a proportion of TIDAL’s HiFi Plus subscribers’ membership charges directed in the direction of their prime streamed artist. This direct-to-artist cost is made along with an artist’s streaming royalties.

On the time, then TIDAL COO Lior Tibon advised MBW that “as much as 10%” of the quantity of the subscription charge could be paid to artists instantly.

“Within the US for example, in case you’re on a person HiFi Plus [membership] and also you’re paying 19.99 a month, $2 will go into that plan and principally circulate instantly into your prime streamed artist for that specific calendar month,” he mentioned.

In accordance with an replace from TIDAL, the streaming service has now determined to discontinue the DAP ‘experiment’ and people funds will now be redirected to its rising artist program, TIDAL RISING.

Launched in 2015, artists which have beforehand participated within the TIDAL RISING program embody Alessia Cara, 21 Savage, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Mr Eazi, Chloe x Halle.

Confirming the replace in a string of Tweets on Tuesday (February 28), TIDAL CEO Jesse Dorogusker mentioned: “We’ve determined to finish DAP and do one thing w[ith] increased affect”.

He revealed that the corporate enrolled 70,000 artists in Direct Artist Payouts and paid out $500,000 over the course of the experiment, which he says, was “far wanting our objective”.

He added that, whereas the DAP program centered solely on a listener’s No.1 artist, beginning April, TIDAL will now not commit a proportion of HiFi Plus membership charges to top-listened artists.

“We’ve determined to finish DAP and do one thing w[ith] increased affect”.

Jesse Dorogusker, TIDAL 

Mentioned Dorogusker: “Altering course means we’ll put extra funds (>10x what we distributed through DAP) into the TIDAL RISING program — backing and celebrating rising artists by training, customized promotion, and future direct-funding, to allow them to construct and develop their careers in music.

“You possibly can anticipate to see extra high-impact activations like our current ‘TIDAL RISING x Atlanta’ the place TIDAL offered 4 Georgia acts with documentaries, billboards, TV protection, and a chance to play for and join reside with their greatest followers.”

In January, Common Music Group introduced an alliance with TIDAL that can see the 2 firms work collectively to discover what they name “an modern new financial mannequin for music streaming which may higher reward the worth offered by artists”.

TIDAL and UMG introduced plans to analysis how, by “harnessing fan engagement”, music providers and platforms can “generate larger industrial worth for each sort of artist”.

They added of their announcement that their analysis will lengthen to how totally different financial fashions “might speed up subscriber progress, deepen retention, and higher monetize fandom to the good thing about artists and the broader music group”.Music Enterprise Worldwide