Jay Z recently bought the Scandinavian high-fidelity streaming service Tidal, and now he’s calling upon his many, many friends in the music industry to mark the launch. In anticipation of Tidal’s expected United States launch today, Hova changed his Twitter avatar to a bright turquoise square, and enlisted Kanye West, Arcade Fire, Daft Punk, Rihanna, and pretty much everyone who is anyone to do the same. Many of them have also changed their Instagram and Facebook avatars as well. It’s enough to make a timeline a little confusing.
“The Tides They Are-A Changing” #TIDALforALL
— Mr. Carter (@S_C_) March 30, 2015
Together, we can turn the tide and make music history. Start by turning your profile picture blue. #TIDALforALL
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) March 30, 2015
Together we can make music history. Show support and make your profile photo blue. Turn the tide. #TIDALforALL
— Arcade Fire (@arcadefire) March 30, 2015
If you want to join us in something exciting, please turn your profile blue #TIDALforALL PH pic.twitter.com/1IxBJnMTGH
— Coldplay (@coldplay) March 30, 2015
Usually when a bunch of people change their avatars at once, it’s in support of a protest or a good cause. This is just a bunch of wealthy musicians promoting the launch of a for-profit service which will likely make them all more money, which is also fine, we guess.
Tidal, which has the support of Spotify enemy Taylor Swift, will offer two payment plans — $9.99 a month for standard quality audio, or $19.99 a month for lossless hi-fidelity streaming quality. A special announcement about the service is coming at 5 p.m. EST.