Tidal Rising

To resist the inhuman aspect of music streaming services, our opportunity was clear: connect fans and artists closer together through their shared love of music.

Based on our research, we discovered 86% of listeners passively stream. These passive streamers would not be our consumer. Instead, we would focus on the group of listeners known as Superfans–those who see music as life itself. This realization led to our overall creative strategy–be true to the music.

For both fans and artists alike, music is a lifeforce. The same sentiment holds true for TIDAL, and when they first launched in 2014, they were on a mission to create a sustainable, artist-first and fan-centric business model. Two things were true about the state of the music streaming industry: 1. Artists aren’t being paid enough (especially rising artists) and 2. Fans weren’t being rewarded with the listening experiences they craved. Although TIDAL’s core values were ultimately wins for both parties, TIDAL’s public perception and growth over the years was minimal compared to their competitors.

INDUSTRY’s role in this project was to collaborate in developing and concepting their artist-rising program, TIDAL Rising, as well as come up with a community-powered activation for fans. Overall, our challenge lay in one question: how could we inject the heartbeat of music back into an industry that was full of algorithms, numbers, and data?

Our initial goal was to bring the heartbeat of music back into music, and through an elaborate collaboration with the TIDAL team, we did just that. We ended up developing a launch plan that consisted of a multitude of ideas, events, and thought-starters for TIDAL’s rising artist program as well as an array of interconnected fan experiences that all centered on one thing: for the love of music.

Through a bold and engaging rebrand, our design team was able to create entirely new design languages which TIDAL uses throughout both programs via social media, website and more. Along with design, we finalized messaging and copy for both programs that emphasized the human, unfiltered approach we utilized throughout the campaign.