Tidal appoints former SoundCloud exec as new CEO

Tidal has finally filled the void left by the departure of interim CEO Peter Tonstad in June by appointing Jeff Toig as its new CEO. 

Toig was the Chief Business Officer at SoundCloud, and was the founder and SVP of Muve Music. He is the third CEO being appointed by Tidal in eight months, and has a bumpy road ahead him.

Tidal has failed to maintain momentum after the launch and its difficulty retaining staff at the executive level - Peter Tonstad, Andy Chen and Vania Schlogel being the highest-profile departures - shows that the streaming music industry is a particularly tricky business to be in. 

In spite of the company's tight connection with some of the biggest artists in the world, Tidal has not yet proven that it can deliver the ‘exclusives’ that will see people flocking to the service. And, after an underwhelming few months, it is unlikely that many of the megastars involved will risk missing out on much-needed exposure by releasing content exclusively on the platform rather than on a much larger service like Spotify or Apple Music. 

Rihanna was rumoured to be launching her latest album “Anti” on Tidal last week, but it failed to materialise - indeed there is no indication as to when the album might be released at this time. 

Tidal doesn’t have an infinite amount of time to grow into a sustainable business. Rdio declared bankruptcy in November and that was a company with the backing of considerably wealthier individuals than Jay-Z. 

Jeff Toig therefore has a difficult task ahead, he needs to shake up the company by showing clear vision and leadership, and find a way to leverage the company's star power in spite of the clear first-mover advantage held by Spotify. 

 

(Andrea Leonelli)