STREAMING WARS

Spotify, often regarded as a pioneer in the music streaming business, has dominated the arena since its launch 7 years ago, but since then, others have jumped into the ring. Beats Music—which is now been absorbed into the Apple Music, Beats Radio 1 service that launched on June 30—was initially expected to share Spotify’s market, and now Jay Z, one of the most famous people on the planet, has joined the party, bringing a Swedish service, TIDAL, stateside. The recently launched (October 2014) service’s awkward launch gave them an unfavorable prognosis, but counting them out this early in the race would be inadvisable. This summer, all three services will be in full swing, so here’s a pretty good idea of how they stand up to each other.– Khari Nixon /Rhetlaw Brandon


SPOTIFY

Major Players: Daniel Ek (founder), Martin Lorentzon (chairman)
When Did It Start: 2008
Cost Per Month: 30-Day Premium Free Trial, $0.00 (Spotify Free), $9.99 (Standard), $4.99 (Students)
Exclusive Content: Curated playlists, album reviews
Artist Royalties (USD): $.006 - $.0084 per stream
Net Worth: $8 billion
Subscribers: 75 million
Biggest Pro: Largest database, doesn’t require membership for use
Biggest Con: Popular artists have little to no direct involvement with service

TIDAL

Major Players: Jay Z (owner), Peter Tonstad (CEO), Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Rihanna (co-owners)
When Did It Start: 2014
Cost Per Month: 30-Day Free Trial, $9.99 (premium), $19.99 (HiFi)
Exclusive Content: Access to exclusive music videos and shows, playlists curated by artists
Artist Royalties (USD): $.012 per stream
Net Worth: $250 million
Subscribers: 750,000
Biggest Pro: Access to exclusive content curated by everyone from Jay Z to Madonna
Biggest Con: Best quality tier costs user $20 per month


APPLE MUSIC

Major Players: Jimmy Iovine (exec), Dr. Dre (exec), Eddy Cue (exec), Ebro, Zane Lowe, Julie Adenuga (programming staff), Drake, Pharrell (artist collaborators)
When Did It Start: 2015
Cost Per Month: 3-month free trial, $9.99 (standard), $14.99 (family)
Exclusive Content: Exclusive album releases, direct, exclusive updates from artists
Artist Royalties (USD): Unconfirmed reports hint at $.015
Net Worth: Too soon to tell
Subscribers: N/A (Launched on June 30, 2015)
Biggest Pro: Directly interpolated with Apple’s existing iPhone Music feature.
Biggest Con: Without an Apple product, you’re out of luck. That’s about 1 billion people that have to stick to either