Music streaming service Tidal is introducing a great new feature to its desktop app that we hope other platforms will implement: universal links. Now when a Tidal user shares a song with a friend, the recipient can listen to the song “on their favorite streaming service.” They are not forced to install the app on their computer. As the company puts it, your friends can enjoy “your latest musical obsession no matter where they listen.”
The platform itself has not made an official announcement. This update appears to have been discovered by a Reddit user on the Tidal subreddit who posted screenshots of the patch notes and the feature in action. We can confirm that Tidal version 2024.03.27 of the desktop app is indeed live and rolling out, as we have received the patch on our computer.
Sharing music across platforms does not require any additional steps on behalf of the sender. To get started, click the three dots next to a song title and then hover over Share. Select Copy Track Link and send the link to your friend.
This is where things get different.
When the recipient opens the link, they will be taken to a special Tidal web page where they can select how they want to listen to the track. At the time of writing, four other streaming services are currently supported: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music. You can’t listen right away because you have to wait a few seconds for the Tidal to connect to the third-party app.
Once it’s done, choose whatever you want and your choice will open in a web browser. It does not open their respective desktop app. The patch notes state that there are plans to expand support to other services – presumably Deezer is one of them. But it is unknown when that will happen.
Directing the load
This technology is nothing new, as similar tools have been around for years. For example, Deezer has Shaker, an all-in-one playlist feature that lets people grab songs from their favorite app and put songs together seamlessly. Songlink is another option, but it requires you to create a full playlist again.
What’s exciting about the Tidal update is that this is the first time a major music streaming service has included universal links. It’s a level of flexibility rarely found anywhere else. You don’t have to make a playlist. You are free to share one song and one song only. Moreover, Tidal is bucking industry trends by also becoming cheaper. We’d love to see Spotify, Apple Music and the like follow in its footsteps.
As much as we gush over universal links, we have several questions. Will the mobile app get the same upgrade? The Reddit post specifically mentions that we received version 2024.03.27 on their Mac and we got it on our PC. However, there is no mention of Android or iOS anywhere. The same goes for its availability; it is unknown whether this will be rolled out worldwide or not.
Until then, check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best headphones for 2024.