TIDAL's only prayer at keeping pace Spotify and Apple Music appears to be their exclusive releases. The streaming service more than doubled its subscriber base from 1 million to 2.5 million after Kanye West released The Life of Pablo. Beyonce's Lemonade, which is still available exclusively on TIDAL, has been nearly as fruitful.
According to the New York Times, TIDAL gained 1.2 million new subscribers, including free trials, in the week after Beyonce released Lemonade. TIDAL is still below the 5 million subscriber threshold, a far cry from Apple Music's 13 million and Spotify's 30+ million, but these releases from mega-stars like Kanye and Beyonce are keeping them in the game. Jay Z is reportedly working on his Lemonade "rebuttal" album... perhaps it will have a comparable effect?