Buy Tidal Plays

TIDAL and its listeners

TIDAL is a music streaming service known for high-quality audio, from CD quality to hi-res, and for an artist-first image. Its listeners tend to be keen music fans: people with good headphones and speakers who listen to whole albums and care about who made what. Most distributors deliver releases to TIDAL along with Spotify, Apple Music and the rest, so your music is probably already there.

TIDAL plays add listens to one track, giving a new release its first plays on the service.

Where plays show up

TIDAL does not show a public play count on tracks the way some services do. Plays show up in TIDAL's artist tools and in your distributor's streaming reports, where you can see how a release is doing on each service. That makes TIDAL plays most useful for your own reporting, for showing a team or label that a release is moving on every service, and for giving TIDAL's own systems a sign that people are listening.

How TIDAL plays work

• Find your track on TIDAL and copy its link from the share menu.
• Paste it on the order form, choose the amount and check out.
• Keep the release live while the order runs.

A track link looks like tidal.com/track/12345678 (or tidal.com/browse/track/…). An artist or album link is not enough, because plays go on one track.

A word on royalties

Streaming services, TIDAL included, work hard to remove streams they consider artificial, and they can withhold royalties on them or take action against releases. Do not plan your income around bought plays, and do not use them to try to earn royalties. Use them to give a release a start alongside real promotion. If your distributor asks about unusual activity, answer honestly.

Who buys TIDAL plays

• Independent artists who want every service to show activity on release day.
• Labels and managers reporting a release's progress across services.
• Producers whose sound benefits from TIDAL's high-quality audio.
• Jazz, classical and electronic artists, whose fans are well represented on TIDAL.
• Artists running a campaign that points fans to TIDAL specifically.

Get the release ready

• Check your metadata: artist name, track title, credits and artwork, delivered through your distributor.
• Add full credits: TIDAL shows songwriters, producers and musicians, and fans read them.
• Deliver hi-res masters if your distributor supports them; TIDAL listeners notice.
• Claim your artist profile through TIDAL's artist tools so you can see your stats.

Promote on TIDAL and everywhere else

Most of your listeners will find your music through social media, videos, playlists, shows and word of mouth. Share links to every service, including TIDAL, so fans can listen where they like. A smart link page that lists all services makes this easy. If you have a fan base that cares about sound, tell them your release is available in high quality on TIDAL; it gives them a reason to listen there.

How many plays look natural

Keep TIDAL plays in proportion to your plays on other services. TIDAL is smaller than the biggest services, so a track with 500 plays on Spotify and 50,000 on TIDAL looks unusual in your reports. A share similar to TIDAL's usual share of your streams looks natural. Spreading plays over the first weeks of a release looks more natural than a single burst.

A worked example

A jazz trio releases a live album recorded in a small club and delivers hi-res masters through its distributor. In its release announcement, it tells fans the album sounds best in high quality on TIDAL and shares a link. It orders a modest number of plays on the opening track so TIDAL shows activity from the first day, matching the plays it expects elsewhere. Fans who care about sound listen on TIDAL, and the trio's distributor reports show the album moving on every service.

Use TIDAL's credits to your advantage

TIDAL puts credits front and centre: listeners can tap through to the songwriters, producers, engineers and musicians on a track and see their other work. Make sure your distributor delivers complete credits for every release. Producers and session musicians are often found this way, and collaborators who see their name credited are more likely to share the release with their own audience.

Check your reports

Watch your distributor reports by service and country, and plan your next release around where real listeners are.

Before you order

• Use the link to one track, not the album or artist.
• Make sure the release is live on TIDAL.
• Keep plays in proportion to your other services.

What plays do not do

Plays add listens to the track. They do not add followers, playlist placements or editorial features, and they do not guarantee royalties. Fans and placements come from your music and your promotion.

No password needed

We only need the public track link. We never ask for your TIDAL, distributor or artist-tools login.