5 reasons abandoning Spotify for Tidal is the right choice
The billions of music enjoyers around the world are flush with streaming options thanks to platforms like Apple Music, YouTube Music, and the green monarch that rules above them all: Spotify. The streaming giant used to be my app of choice for all my music needs, too, but I happily abandoned Spotify years ago in favor of Tidal, another strong contender in the space.
Now, I'm pitting the two against each other once again to prove that Tidal is the better choice over Spotify. I can provide more than a few reasons to convince you to switch, too—even if you're not entirely sold on the hi-fi audio promises that set Tidal apart from its competition.
A cleaner, lighter app that focuses on the music
Tidal doesn't get in your way with unwanted content
One of my most prominent criticisms of Spotify was the app itself. Packed with features and rocking a sleek, modern design language, Spotify's app shows all the marks of a long-lasting and highly successful platform. It also wants to do a lot more than just play your music—and I'm frankly not interested.
Apart from a practically endless library of music and music videos, Spotify also boasts countless podcasts and a rapidly growing catalog of audiobooks. These features are great for those who use them, but those just interested in their tunes might prefer the cleaner, more streamlined interface of Tidal, which is only interested in getting you to your music as quickly as possible.
Another side effect of Spotify's do-it-all approach is a more bloated app and worse performance. As my music library grew, stutters and longer load times became more frequent. Spotify never entirely failed to work, but its inconsistency slowly built up my frustration over time. Even Spotify's music discovery and automatic mixes have drastically fallen in quality over the years , while Tidal remains focused on what matters.
Now, I won't claim that Tidal is a slam dunk. I've encountered a few minor bugs, such as Tidal "forgetting" that I've added songs or albums to my collection (they're still there, but Tidal sometimes shows the Add plus symbolinstead of the correct Added heart symbol). I also wish Tidal had a dedicated Xbox app like Spotify does, as I love to put on music while I'm cleaning or working around the house.
Superior audio quality across the board
Lossless audio is standard for everyone
Zachary Boddy/How-To Geek
Tidal initially made a name for itself as the ultimate music service for audiophiles, thanks to lossless, high-fidelity music being the standard across the catalog. Nowadays, Tidal still sets the bar for audio streaming quality, with a vast collection of tracks available at their absolute best quality. But this victory isn't as important as it used to be.
Spotify now offers lossless audio to Premium subscribers . The feature may have arrived years late, and Spotify's lossless audio quality may be lower than Tidal's (24-bit/44.1KHz versus 24-bit/192KHz), but it is here and, admittedly, it's more than good enough for the majority. That's especially true considering most people listen to their music via Bluetooth-enabled headphones or speakers, which lacks the bandwidth to get the most out of lossless files.
The hi-fi promise is a huge reason I first decided to abandon Spotify for Tidal a couple of years ago. However, I have to be honest: even if Tidal is still on top, the difference will only matter to those with great wired headphones.
Greater support for the artists and bands you love
More pay per stream, and the option to buy direct
Zachary Boddy/How-To Geek
A major pro that isn't so niche is how Tidal offers some of the best rates for paying the artists that make your favorite music, far higher on average than Spotify. Like most music streaming services, Tidal uses a dynamic royalty system that pays artists a variable amount per stream depending on their popularity, location, publisher, and other factors, but Tidal's focus on pure music and commitment to supporting artists puts the service at the top of the industry.
It can be difficult to calculate exactly how much Tidal and other services pay artists thanks to the variable rates and a lack of information direct from the source, but online calculators like this one at Ditto Music can help you compare Tidal to Spotify and other major streaming platforms. Spoiler: artists can expect two to three times as much revenue on Tidal versus Spotify when comparing the same number of streams.
It's not just about higher streaming rates, either. Tidal allows artists to sell albums and tracks directly to fans , only taking a 10% cut of the revenue; that's a better revenue split than Bandcamp, by the way. You support your favorite artists directly, and you get to keep that music forever—even if you're not a Tidal subscriber.
There are no loops to jump through for an artist to take advantage of this, either. Unlike Spotify, which requires a third-party distributor to upload your music, Tidal Upload lets artists get started for free , directly through Tidal itself.
A stricter stance on shady AI-generated music
Enjoy clear labels and an easy opt-out
Zachary Boddy/How-To Geek
Generative artificial intelligence has become a scourge on creative communities, including with music, books, drawings, and photography. Spotify has been especially riddled with waves of fake, AI-generated bands designed to capture engagement and revenue from unsuspecting users, or even to capitalize on the success of established artists by closely resembling them.
Tidal has also been afflicted by this problem but clearly laid out its stance on AI-generated music in July : all 100% AI-generated music will be tagged (but allowed to stay on the service); no 100% AI-generated music will be eligible for royalties or direct-to-fan sales; AI-generated music that impersonates any real artist will be removed; all users can opt out of interacting with 100% AI-generated music across the entire platform; and Tidal will also work on detecting and tagging partially AI-generated music moving forward. These updates have already been put into effect.
While I planned this article, Spotify also outlined its own stance on AI-generated music earlier this month—once again late and once again a step or two behind Tidal. Starting in mid-September, Spotify will be labeling AI-generated artists as "AI Personas" and will stop recommending this AI music in its playlists or mixes (no word on Spotify's AI-assisted algorithm pumping out odd, nonsensically named mixes, though)... but it appears AI music will still be eligible for monetization. At the very least, it's a good step forward for Spotify.
All that, and Tidal actually costs less than Spotify
Spotify is definitely looking rough in this versus
Back in 2014, Tidal was considerably more expensive than Spotify if you wanted access to its hi-fi catalog, but the positions have actually swapped since then. Yes, Tidal is cheaper overall than Spotify, charging $12/month for its individual premium plan compared to Spotify's $13/month and $20/month for its six-member family plan compared to Spotify's $22/month. Both Tidal and Spotify also offer a $7/month promotional plan for eligible students.
Tidal also offers DJ-specific variants of its individual and student plans, which lets you natively integrate Tidal and its entire music catalog into compatible DJ software and hardware.
Now, Spotify does have a few advantages. It offers a free tier supported by ads (Tidal helps ensure higher royalties for artists by not offering this), its premium plans include access to its podcasts and 15 hours a month of audiobooks (if you care about either, as I don't), and Spotify's student plan does include access to Hulu (a powerful perk for budget-conscious students). Despite those pluses, Tidal is a no-brainer for me.
No regrets going to Tidal
Spotify may be the king of music streaming services, but I have never once regretted switching to Tidal. A more focused approach to app design and recommendations, a comparable music catalog, excellent audio quality, commitment to industry-leading monetization options for artists, and a stricter approach to AI-generated music make Tidal, in my opinion, the absolute best service for those who simply want to listen to music. Well, I also hear Apple Music has gotten pretty good, but I'll leave that comparison to someone else.
If you want to make the switch, Tidal does offer a way to import your playlists and saved music from Spotify using TuneMyMusic , which supports up to 500 songs for free.
