Jay Z’s Tidal Unleashes New Marketing Ploy – Free Tickets to Made In America Festival

Music streaming service says first 500 people to take the bait can attend the popular concert

Jay Z music service Tidal concert ticket giveaway measures (Getty)
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Just three days after staging an exclusive Jay Z “B-sides” concert for subscribers, Tidal has come up with a new way to work users into a frenzy — free concert tickets!

Jay Z’s struggling music streaming service sent out an email blast Tuesday telling Tidal users they were eligible for tickets to the Budweiser Made in America festival, gratis.

“To celebrate the fourth anniversary of the Made in America Festival in Philadelphia, TIDAL is excited to offer a pair of free tickets to the first 500 subscribers to take this offer,” the email read.

Fans quickly answered the call, and began tweeting about their good fortune.

“OMGGG I GOT THE FREE TICKETS!! Im going to #MadeInAmerica THANK YOU @TIDALHiFi,” tweeted one subscriber.

“4th Annual Made in America, here I come. Thanks @TIDALHiFi,” another Tidal user tweeted.

The massive music festival, which was launched by Jay Z in 2012, will be held on Labor Day Weekend — September 5-6. The official announcement that the festival would be returning was made Tuesday evening on Tidal. The streaming service is also offering two-for-one, early bird two-day passes to new subscribers.

Though the lineup has not yet been announced, past performers have included Beyonce, Kings of Leon, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Pharrell Williams and EDM artist Tiesto. Last year, the festival kicked off a West Coast version in downtown Los Angeles.

Tidal’s free ticket ploy followed another marketing coup on Monday when Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj dropped the surprise music video for “Feeling Myself” exclusively on the service.

The single, a collaboration from Minaj’s 2014 album “The Pinkprint,” set social media trends on Facebook and Twitter, shortly after it was released on the app.

Tidal launched last year and was bought by Jay Z in January for a reported $56 million. He relaunched the app  on March 30. Tidal is seen as a rival to Spotify, though it doesn’t have a free, ad-supported version. Standard definition streaming started at $9.99 a month, and a high definition audio version was going for $19.99. However, when a Wrap staffer downloaded the mobile app and signed up for the service on Tuesday afternoon, the rates were $12.99 and $24.99.

In recent months, the music service has suffered its share of rough patches, including the departure of CEO Andy Chen and layoffs. But on Saturday night, Jay delivered on his promise to offer special content to Tidal subscribers by performing two decades of his hits at a special “B-sides” concert that streamed live on the service.

Below is a sampling of fan reaction to Tidal’s free ticket offer.

https://twitter.com/KisforKIARA/status/600753766095196160

https://twitter.com/LuciousLy0n/status/600778135735541761

https://twitter.com/DanteMarquis/status/600749307973664768

https://twitter.com/Nigel_D/status/600746412100333568

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