TIDAL'S FIRST WAVE

Jay Z's Tidal streaming service today announced its launch with a press conference featuring superstar owners including Jay, Beyonce, Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, J. Cole, Jack White, Daft Punk, Jason Aldean, Usher, Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of Arcade Fire and Deadmaus, with Calvin Harris and Coldplay's Chris Martin participating via satellite.

After some introductory remarks by Roc Nation/Tidal exec Vania Schlogel, the stars were paraded out Spokesperson Keys delivered the service's manifesto of empowerment for artists, superior quality (CD-quality, lossless audio) for consumers and an overall reaffirmation of music's importance to life and culture.

Proclaiming Tidal “the first-ever artist-owned global music entertainment platform,” Keys said the goal was to create a better service and experience for fans and artists—and, more importantly, “to preserve music’s importance in our lives.” On behalf of her partners Keys promised “exclusive experiences that will be found nowhere else,” and that tidal would contribute to the “preservation of the industry,” adding, “This is the beginning of a whole new era.”

After Keys concluded her remarks, which were greeted with whoops and cheers from attendees, all the artists stepped up and signed a "declaration" presmumably reinforcing the company's mission.

Check out the conference below.