With the competitive nature of streaming wars right now, Tidal is looking to differentiate from the pack, and is now selling CDs of Prince's new album, HITNRUN. They're the only service to legally offer a stream of the new album, though anyone can purchase the CD bundle—not just Tidal subscribers. The album is available to purchase digitally on iTunes and Amazon, but this the first time that Tidal has allowed non-subscribers to make purchases from them in any way. Though physical copies of the album look to be available at FYE stores, it's worth noting that it isn't available at Walmart, Best Buy, and Target.
So, Tidal is basically handling a large portion of the physical distribution of the album, and though CDs are a thing of the past at this point, this could provide a hint at what Tidal might try and do in the future, particularly with potential new Jay Z music. Back when Tidal launched, Jay made it very clear that he doesn't have a record deal right now, which means that when he does decide to put out new music, it seems very possible that it would exclusively be streamed and distributed via Tidal.
To this point, Tidal has been looked at as a distant competitor to the likes of Apple Music and Spotify, but this seems like a golden opportunity for the company to gain an edge that the others can't. Whether it materializes in a profitable way will remain to be seen. Fans can purchase a physical copy of Prince's new album via Tidal here.
