Swedish Streaming Music Service Hits U.S. Market Under Name Tidal Music

Swedish high-resolution music service WiMP HiFi launched Tuesday in the U.S. and the U.K. as Tidal Music. In an email, the company offered customers who had expressed interest in the service prior to availability a free 30-day VIP trial of the premium service, after which the monthly subscription fee of $19.95 would kick in. Non-VIP new subscribers can sign up for a seven-day free trial, according to the email. The service initially will be available via web browser through Google Chrome only. A customer support representative told us the company is working on availability on other browsers. Tidal Music expects to be available on Sonos and Bluesound networked music systems “hopefully within a week or two,” he said, along with Auralic, Bluesound, Denon, Harman Omni, HEOS, Meridian, NAD and Sonos, among others. High-res files are available in the ALAC (Apple Lossless) format, according to the company website. The music streaming service claims a music library of 25 million tracks in lossless audio.