In our household, music is a shared passion—but our listening platforms couldn’t be more different. My partner is a longtime Spotify devotee. I’m a loyal Tidal subscriber. For a while, this difference felt mostly inconsequential. We had our reasons and stuck to them.
He enjoys Spotify’s smart playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar. They’re easy, convenient, and seem to know exactly what he wants to hear next. For him, music is a background companion—played through AirPods during daily routines or while out on a walk.
I, on the other hand, care deeply about the sound itself. I like to plug into a high-quality setup and catch the subtle textures in a track—the layered harmonies, the crispness of the percussion. That’s why I chose Tidal. Its high-fidelity audio and FLAC support give me the depth I crave in my music experience. I’ve always viewed music as something immersive, almost sacred.
Until recently, I had no reason to envy Spotify. But a new feature has me questioning whether sound quality alone is enough to keep me from switching.
Spotify just launched a fresh feature called “Concerts Near You.” Unlike earlier integrations that passively listed nearby shows, this playlist is actively curated. It doesn’t just show local events—it personalizes them based on your listening habits.
Every Wednesday, Spotify compiles a playlist of artists performing near you, mixing well-known names with indie acts. It’s around 30 songs long and adapts to your tastes, so even if you’re not actively seeking live shows, you’re likely to stumble across music you’d actually want to hear in person.
It’s a subtle shift, but it’s smart. Spotify is using its powerful algorithm not just to recommend songs, but to connect you to real-world experiences. It’s turning passive streaming into potential memories.
My partner started playing his “Concerts Near You” playlist on a lazy weekend. Soon enough, we found ourselves checking out a live show by an old Australian band called Boom Crash Opera—something we never would’ve discovered on our own.
Another track in the playlist reminded us that Sigur Rós is performing soon with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra. That one stung a little—tickets were pricey, and we likely missed the window to get decent seats. Still, being reminded of it through a playlist made it feel more personal, like the universe nudging us toward something special.
This is where Spotify’s strategy shines. It isn’t just curating music—it’s nudging us toward the life around that music.
Tidal, for all its impressive sound quality, still treats music as a one-dimensional product. You press play, and that’s it. No extra layers of discovery, no real effort to connect the dots between your music and the world around you.
Spotify, in contrast, is positioning itself as a lifestyle platform. It’s not just offering tracks—it’s offering context. It wants to be your DJ, your event planner, your window into a community of shared tastes.
And it’s doing a good job. Whether it’s collaborative playlists, year-end wrap-ups, or now this concert playlist, Spotify is building features that extend the music experience into your actual life.
None of this means I’m giving up on Tidal just yet. I still love the pristine sound, especially when I’m listening through good headphones or speakers. There’s a warmth and detail in Tidal’s playback that Spotify just doesn’t offer—at least not yet.
But the scales are starting to shift. With Spotify rumored to finally launch a HiFi tier—possibly branded as Spotify Music Pro—it’s hard not to wonder how long Tidal’s audio advantage will matter.
There’s talk of Spotify bundling better sound with premium perks, like early ticket access or special concert invitations. If that happens, the gap between Spotify and Tidal could narrow significantly, at least in terms of what matters to serious music lovers.
In the end, it wasn’t a big redesign or an aggressive ad campaign that got my attention. It was just one small, well-executed feature. A playlist, personalized and refreshed weekly, that subtly reminded me of what makes music so special: not just listening, but living it.
It got me thinking—maybe sound quality isn’t the only thing that matters. Maybe the experience of music—the memories you form, the events you attend, the friends you make through shared discovery—is just as important.
Spotify seems to understand that. And if Tidal doesn’t catch up soon, it may find itself stuck being a platform for purists—respected, but ultimately niche.
I’ve spent years committed to Tidal, content in its audio fidelity and uninterested in the noise of features that felt unnecessary. But Spotify’s new concert playlist has managed to do something Tidal hasn’t: it made me want more from my streaming service—not just better sound, but a better connection to the world around the music.
Will I switch tomorrow? Probably not. But for the first time, I’m not so sure I’ll stay loyal forever.
