Music streaming platform TIDAL relaunches TIDAL RISING with funding for emerging artists

TIDAL, a global music streaming platform owned by Jack Dorsey’s Block and musician Jay-Z, today announced the relaunch of  TIDAL RISING, a program that levels the playing field for all artists.

Originally launched in 2015, TIDAL RISING was designed to showcase emerging artists from various music genres by utilizing playlists, video content, online articles, and marketing support to aid these artists in taking their careers to the next level. While doing so, TIDAL RISING has also provided music enthusiasts with the opportunity to discover new albums and songs.

As part of the relaunch, TIDAL is offering a selection of emerging artists new ongoing support through custom promotion, education, and direct funding so they can grow, thrive and build their careers. TIDAL said that the first wave of rising artists to receive support includes Alex Vaughn, Baby Storme, Cheekface, Reuben Vincent, Sunny War, and more.

Since its inception eight years ago, TIDAL RISING has helped many artists, including 21 Savage who chronicled his first tour with TIDAL, Chloe x Halle who established a content series to engage with their fans, and Megan Thee Stallion, who received support from TIDAL in the form of industry connections and performance opportunities before signing with a record label.

In the last year alone, TIDAL RISING has provided emerging artists with exceptional opportunities, including performing in Meta Horizon Worlds and composing unique tracks for designer Kim Shui’s runway fashion show at New York Fashion Week.

“Our TIDAL RISING program has always been a vessel to help emerging artists connect with their fans and open up new opportunities,” said Jason Kpana, Senior Vice President of Artist & Label Relations. “We’ve increased our investment by 10x to do more than one-off campaigns with a focus on how we help propel artists within the TIDAL universe and beyond. We’re excited to see the impact of providing scalable support for rising artists, starting in the U.S. before expanding TIDAL RISING internationally later this year.”

TIDAL is the first music streaming platform to provide direct-funding to artists with complete creative control over how they use it to support their careers. Our goal for providing direct funding is to empower Rising artists to determine what they need and invest in their careers on their own terms. In addition, TIDAL RISING is empowering artists with educational resources from Dolby on how to create Dolby Atmos to support the next wave of music creation and immersive experiences. This will include topics such as Mixing in Dolby Atmos, Basics of Immersive Audio and Best Practices, and the Next Wave of Music Creation and Experience.

“As an artist you want to surround yourself with people that believe in you early in your career”, said the Grammy Award-winning artist and musician, Anderson.Paak. “I remember doing my first TIDAL Rising interview back in 2015 and then coming back to perform at their TIDAL X charity concert in Brooklyn. When I launched my label, TIDAL RISING gave the same early support to my artists DOMi & JD BECK, who were featured in their VR concert series with Meta last year.”

Tidal is a Norwegian-American music streaming service launched in 2014 by Swedish public company Aspiro, a startup founded by Daniel Ek, who is now the CEO of Spotify. In 2015, musician JAY-Z acquired TIDAL for close to $56 million. Then in March 2021, Block, a fintech company founded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, acquired 80% majority ownership of Tidal for $297 million in cash and stock, with Jay-Z owning the remaining 20%.