Tidal Live is available to everyone

Tidal officially launches the Live feature. The options are similar to competitors, but with one significant drawback.

After the testing phase, Tidal DJ features are officially available. This option, now called Live, allows HiFi and HiFi Plus subscribers to share what they play in real time with other paying members. After the session starts, just share the link with those you want to listen to. Unfortunately, you can’t make your own mixes, but this feature is ideal if you want to host a virtual music session with multiple people.

Tidal officially launches the Live feature

As you can imagine, Tidal uses this feature to promote their platform as well as artists. The likes of Alesso, Aluna and Diplo are playing live in the US, UK, Germany and Poland, while Tidal will feature artists from many genres throughout the week.

Live is now available on Android and iOS and works with over 100 million tracks. Tidal deals start at €9.99 per month. Unfortunately, you’ll have to settle for traditional AAC tracks. Higher quality tracks are not currently available. You will also only be able to listen to artists from the country you subscribe to. It is impossible, for example, to listen to a session of a German musician from France, in other words.

Options are similar to competitors, but with a significant drawback

In general, all these features are very similar to what competing services offer, depending on what you are looking for. Spotify group sessions allow all participants to control playback. Amazon Amp, on the other hand, is more like a music-focused broadcasting tool, and you’re not guaranteed to have all the tracks you want to share. Tidal’s approach is simple, but it can be perfect if you want to DJ without having to express yourself.

The disadvantage, as explained above, is that all members must be subscribers. As such, you’ll have to convince your friends to leave their Spotify, Apple Music, or other accounts to take full advantage of Live, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be willing to give up on the service they frequently use on a daily basis for a long time.