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WiMP to bring high quality streaming service to the UK

By | Published on Thursday 4 September 2014

WiMP

Norway-based WiMP has announced that it is bringing its high quality streaming service to the UK and US later this year. Though under the slightly less wimp sounding name, Tidal.

As previously reported, the company launched WiMP HiFi in October last year. The option cost double the price of a standard premium account on the service, but brought CD quality music to streaming for the first time.

On the expansion plans, WiMP CEO Andy Chen said: “Tidal reflects our mission to deliver the highest quality music streaming service. From making sure there’s no loss in sound quality to telling the stories behind the creation of the music, we aim to maximise the listening experience. We are catering to people who really appreciate the quality things in life, whether that is music, sound or lifestyle, because quality should not be compromised and because music fans now demand more from their music service”.

Tidal will launch with a catalogue of 25 million tracks, all playable at more than twice the bitrate of Spotify’s highest quality setting, as well as 75,000 HD music videos. As with WiMP HiFi, it will also offer curated editorial recommendations and playlists.

While other streaming services battle it out to convince mainstream consumers to start spending ten pounds a month on music, a big expenditure increase for most people, Tidal aims to attract more engaged music consumers, many of whom will already be users of other streaming services but who might be turned on by improved sound quality.

Chen continues: “Initially, streaming was all about access to everything, everywhere, which many services now provide. Tidal is not just another one of those providers. From the start, we knew that music streaming is not just about millions of tracks or thousands of playlists. Instead, it is about the ultimate music experience that makes you want to stop and listen. Rather than remaining in the background to some other activity, music deserves to take centre stage with quality at its heart”.

It’s a shame all those high-audio-quality-fans just spent all that money on pointless Pono players, as this seems like something much more useful to them.



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