What’s the number one thing that music streaming services want? It’s for customers to stop buying CDs and start paying monthly for an on-demand streaming service which provides them with access to millions of songs for a relatively low price every month. It would be odd if a streaming service started selling physical CDs but that’s precisely what Tidal is doing for Prince who is selling CDs of his latest album through Tidal.
Prince’s new album, titled HITNRUN, has been released as a streaming exclusive to Tidal. Those who would rather not pay monthly for the streaming service, they can head on over to Tidal’s online store to purchase CDs of the same album.
Tidal already allows artists to sell merchandise like posters, t-shirts and more through its online store, this is the first time it has offered CDs as well, and it remains to be seen if Tidal opens up this avenue for other artists as well.
For all we know this could be an exclusive deal between Tidal and Prince which allows the artist to sell CD’s of his latest album through the streaming service’s online store. Tidal has not yet confirmed if it will allow others to sell physical CDs as well.