Skip to content 
12 Significant Ways TIDAL is Better Than Spotify
Is TIDAL better than Spotify? Let me put it this way: I never thought I’d switch away from Spotify. But after testing TIDAL in late-2023, I could never go back to MP3 quality music…
Spotify is the most popular music streaming platform on the planet with a lion’s share of the market (30.6%). In second place, Apple Music with 13.7%. And right down at the bottom, below Amazon Music and Tencent Music, is TIDAL with just 3% of the market.
What’s crazy about these numbers is that Spotify, despite MASSIVE efforts from Apple, is still the #1 platform for music streaming for the vast majority of phone in 2024.
But does it deserve its crown? Is there a better option out there? As it turns out, there is: the world’s smallest music streaming platform, TIDAL, has Spotify – and Apple Music – positively whipped in 12 key areas.
12 Reasons To Switch From Spotify To TIDAL
- Lossless Audio Quality: TIDAL’s biggest selling point is its commitment to high-fidelity audio. Unlike Spotify, which primarily streams in compressed MP3 format, TIDAL offers lossless FLAC and MQA streaming, ensuring you hear every nuance and detail in your favorite tracks.
- Exclusive Content: TIDAL frequently secures exclusive releases, bonus tracks, and behind-the-scenes content that you won’t find on Spotify. From early album drops to intimate artist interviews, TIDAL keeps you closer to the music you love.
- Higher Artist Payouts: TIDAL prides itself on providing a more equitable revenue share for artists compared to other streaming platforms. If supporting your favorite musicians is a priority, TIDAL’s model could be a better fit.
- Expertly Curated Playlists: While Spotify relies heavily on algorithms, TIDAL employs music experts to meticulously curate playlists tailored to various genres, moods, and themes, ensuring a more personalized listening experience.
- Integrated Music Videos: Unlike Spotify, TIDAL’s subscription plans include access to a vast library of music videos, enhancing your overall multimedia experience.
- Direct-to-Fan Features: TIDAL offers unique features that allow fans to directly support their favorite artists through subscriptions, merchandise purchases, and more, fostering a closer connection between musicians and their audience.
- Offline Lossless Listening: TIDAL subscribers can download tracks in lossless FLAC format for offline listening, ensuring you never have to compromise on audio quality, even without an internet connection.
- Integration with High-End Audio Equipment: TIDAL is designed to seamlessly integrate with a wide range of high-fidelity audio equipment, making it the go-to choice for audiophiles seeking the ultimate listening experience.
- Focus on the Audiophile Community: TIDAL caters specifically to music enthusiasts who prioritize sound quality above all else, offering a curated selection of high-resolution audio content and a dedicated community of like-minded individuals.
- Exclusive Live Events and Concerts: In addition to exclusive music releases, TIDAL often provides access to live concerts, behind-the-scenes footage, and other unique experiences you won’t find on other platforms.
- Lossless Audio Streaming for Audiophiles: While Spotify offers a HiFi tier for lossless audio, TIDAL’s entire platform is built around delivering the highest quality sound, making it the clear choice for true audiophiles.
- Immersive Sound Experience: TIDAL’s partnership with Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio brings an immersive, multi-dimensional sound experience, transporting you to the heart of the recording studio.
Things To Keep In Mind?
- Cost: Tidal’s HiFi and Master subscriptions are more expensive than Spotify’s Premium plan.
- Limited Free Tier: Tidal offers a limited free tier with restricted features compared to Spotify’s free tier with on-demand music selection.
- Smaller User Base & Playlists: Spotify boasts a significantly larger user base and wider variety of user-generated playlists.
TIDAL is great. I’ve used it extensively, after signing up in late 2023. It sounds incredible on my HiFi speakers, my AirPods, and even through my car’s stereo system (which isn’t particularly good). I forgot just how good music can sound when it’s not compressed to hell to save data.
For me, I don’t think I’d go back to Spotify or Apple Music. Ethically, TIDAL is a better company too: it pays artists more and does more to promote and foster new talent. That’s a big one for me; a lot of the bands I like make little to no money from Spotify.
TIDAL is more expensive, but I’d argue it is worth the expense. If you can tell the difference between CD quality and MP3, have expensive audio equipment that you want to use to its true potential, you’ll appreciate the difference in sound quality and understand where that extra money has gone.
For me, it is the only platform I have used that sounds as good as CD-quality. Once you hear music in this quality again, something anyone that grew up in the 1990s/2000s knows all about, it is impossible to go back to water-down MP3 quality.
Consider me converted.