Sharing links cross-platform is often irritating, taking your friends to the home page and not the link in question or requiring them to log in.
![Two women listen to music via headphones, a line of musical notes connecting them.](https://thdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/final_size-music-sharing_20240326215700.png)
But Tidal just rolled out universal links, per The Verge. This allows music lovers to share tracks with friends on multiple platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.
Tidal…
… is a little guy as far as music streaming services are concerned.
It began as a small Norwegian streaming service until Jay-Z bought it in 2015, rebranding it as an artist-owned platform. That didn’t pan out, and in 2021, Block Inc. (formerly Square) paid $297m for majority ownership.
As of 2022, it held less than 2% of market share, despite higher-quality audio and more lucrative payout tiers for artists.
Why it’s interesting
Both individual consumers and government regulators are growing weary of big platforms and their difficult-to-leave walled gardens.
We’re seeing big antitrust crackdowns in both the EU and US, plus a rising interest in the fediverse, a collection of interoperable social media platforms. Even Meta added Threads, its Twitter rival, to the fediverse.
While there are decentralized music platforms, such as Funkwhale, some users find the sign-up process intimidating or the music selection limiting.
Tidal’s move could build goodwill among potential customers looking to ditch larger companies, and their ever-increasing costs, for something novel that doesn’t feel like yet another closed-off subscription.
Fun fact: There are a few other ways to listen to links on your preferred platform. Wired offers four here.