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Add to SafariWhen comparing Bandcamp vs TIDAL, the Slant community recommends TIDAL for most people. In the question“What are the best music streaming services?” TIDAL is ranked 5th while Bandcamp is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose TIDAL is:
The Tidal music streaming service has a maximum streaming quality of 1,411Kbps bit rate with FLAC-formatted lossless files. This is quite an upgrade compared to most music streaming services, which go at about 320Kbps bit rate.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro No "Monthly or Yearly" subscription plans
Once you buy (or support) a song/album from an artist on Bandcamp, you get to open a fan account and unlimited streaming and downloads from your purchases.
Pro Multiple filters
The Bandcamp discovery site has multiple filters making it easy to find exactly what you want. If you're looking for Best-Selling Electronic albums on vinyl from 3 weeks ago, Discover has you covered.
Pro Search or browse by tags
When artists upload their music, the can add their own tags to their albums or songs. This leads to some very unique finds and allows you to find interesting music.
Pro Audio fidelity is Bandcamp's name
Downloading songs (you bought) lets you download in multiple choices of codecs/formats, like MP3, FLAC, AIFF, AAC and many more to make sure you get to hear what you want to hear.
Pro Unlimited streaming
Listen to songs as many times as you want.
Pro "Fair Trade Music Policy"
Bandcamp's share is 15% on digital items, and 10% on physical goods. Payment processor fees are separate and vary depending on the size of the transaction, but for an average size purchase, amount to an additional 4-7%. The remainder, usually 80-85%, goes directly to the artist, and they pay out daily. Since they only make money when artists make a lot more money, their interests remain aligned with those of the community they serve. It’s a straightforward approach, and it works well.
Pro Amazing quality
The Tidal music streaming service has a maximum streaming quality of 1,411Kbps bit rate with FLAC-formatted lossless files. This is quite an upgrade compared to most music streaming services, which go at about 320Kbps bit rate.
Pro Pays artists more
As of March 2018, TIDAL pays the artists 2/3 more than Apple Music and 3 times more than Spotify, for an equivalent catalog and subscription price. (40M songs on TIDAL and Apple Music vs. 30M on Spotify, $9.99/mo for all 3). Napster is the only service that pays the artists more than TIDAL.
Pro Discounted student subscription
Tidal offers a 50% discount on monthly subscriptions for students with a valid university email account.
Pro Awsome desktop app
Pro Built-in audio search
The Tidal music streaming service mobile app has a built-in audio search, similar to Shazaam and Soundhound.
Pro Military/veteran discount a BIG plus
Pro Get one-month free Hi-Fi (FLAC, 24-bit music)
Almost all if not most songs are 24-bit FLAC files, "Master" is an ever higher quality
Cons
Con Songs may take some time to load
the Tidal music streaming service may take up to 10 seconds of buffering to load and play a song, sometimes even stopping a song mid-way to buffer.
Con No free tier
The Tidal music streaming service has no free tier available. Only a 7-day trial. While the trial is helpful for learning what the service has to offer, it may not allow for a complete picture due to the time limit.
Con Offline isn’t offline and mobile data is consumed in one song
Con Hi-FI Can be expensive for some
