If there’s one thing that just about everyone agrees on, it’s that Tidal’s launch event last month was a complete public relations debacle. It goes without saying that trotting a bunch of incredibly wealthy musicians on stage to pitch a music streaming service that’s pricier than what’s being offered by rivals such as Spotify and Pandora was not the best way to make a first impression. However, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, new Tidal CEO Peter Tonstad said the company has no regrets about its choices for the launch event, which he described as “absolutely fantastic.”
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“I was there; I thought it was absolutely fantastic,” Tonstad told the Journal. “I thought it was extremely large of these global, well-known artists to step forward and say, ‘We need to change the model.’ I don’t think they were thinking about themselves. I think they were thinking about the industry, about small, up-and-coming artists, about producers, everyone in the background who contributed to this music going live and getting into the market.”
Of course, no one expects Tonstad to completely trash his company’s event. Nonetheless there are ways to subtly admit mistakes without demoralizing the people who work for you. For instance, Tonstad could have acknowledged that Tidal could have done a better job of communicating its core mission at the launch or he could have at least admitted there was a gap between what Tidal was trying to say and how it was received.
Nonetheless, if Tonstad really does believe the launch was “absolutely fantastic,” then we have no doubt that Tidal will be providing us with lots more unintentional entertainment in the coming months.
