Music streaming services such as Pandora Radio and Spotify have taken over the industry, each company valuing in billions of dollars. Tidal, the subscription-based streaming service, is the first of its kind.

The service was advocated as the first artist-owned streaming service. The company is currently owned by some of the biggest names in music including Jay Z, Beyonce, Kanye West, Madonna, Daft Punk, deadmau5 and J. Cole.

The slogan “#TIDALforALL” was used by different artists on social media during the launching of the service. The service currently has 25 million tracks and over 75,000 music videos. Having no free subscription plan, they offer Tidal Premium, the $9.99 plan and Tidal HiFi, their flagship plan which costs $19.99 a month.

The Hifi plan will include High Fidelity, lossless audio and high definition music videos, while both plans will have no ads and unlimited listening time. Many people think the company is overpriced compared to its competitors.

“I wouldn’t be willing to pay 10 dollars a month for a music service,” sophomore Brandon Ho said. “I think it’s pointless because you have services like Spotify and Pandora where it’s only five dollars and the only beneficial thing about Tidal is the improved sound quality which most people might not be able to tell the difference.”

Tidal’s biggest competitors, Pandora Radio and Spotify, each with over 50 million registered users, can both be used with a free subscription plan, with Tidal not having that option.

Pandora’s paid subscription plan, “Pandora One” is currently charging $4.99 per month which includes no ads, extra skips and fewer timeouts.

Spotify is currently offering a $9.99 per month plan which allows users to play any song, without ads or restrictions, having over 10 million paying subscribers. Although paid subscriptions have many features, the free plan continues to dominate the industry.

“I feel like it is a waste to pay money for streaming music because you can just download the music that you want on your phone and listen to it,” junior Ananda Poudel said. “Also, you can use Pandora to stream music without paying, although it frequently gives you advertisements but that’s a small price to pay rather than paying $9.99 for music.”

On Monday, March 30, Jay Z went on stage with 16 co-owning artists to debut the new streaming service. The conference started with artist Alicia Keys speaking about the artists and Tidal.

“So we come together before you on this day, March 30, 2015, with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be another one of those moments in time, a moment that will forever change the course of music history,” co-owner Keys said.

To end the launch of the company, the 17 stars signed a declaration which stated all of Tidal’s future goals.

“On the artists owning the company, I think it’s different,” Ho said, “but at the same time it cuts the artist out with its fans who don’t have the money to pay for a subscription. Artists should want to spread music rather than make it exclusive.”

Users love the higher quality music, but there are downsides as well.

“It’s really hign quality music,” junior Nathan Ohene said, “but it’s not that much better than Spotify, and there’s not as much variety in the music.”

Some see buying a subscription to Tidal as a way to support those making the music.

“I use Tidal to support artists, especially those that don’t get a lot of credit, like producers and writers,” Ohene said. “I won’t be able to afford it much longer, but if I can support those who make great music, it’s worth it to me.”