Arcade Fire, Deadmau5 face backlash with support for streaming service Tidal

TORONTO – Arcade Fire and Deadmau5 are among the artists publicly throwing their support behind Jay Z’s new streaming service Tidal — and both received decidedly mixed reactions from fans.

Many high-profile artists have changed their social media profile images to a shade of turquoise and are posting in support of the premium streaming music service.

Other artists who joined in on the stunt included Kanye West, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj.

Late Sunday night, Deadmau5 tweeted: “Tides are about to turn.”

The account of Montreal’s Arcade Fire, meanwhile, sent out the message: “Together we can make music history. Show support and make your profile photo blue. Turn the tide.”

Almost all of the responses to those posts were negative. Several skeptical users said the wording of the Arcade Fire post would have been more appropriate for a charitable endeavour, not a for-profit tech enterprise.

Midday Monday, the Grammy-winning band dropped the turquoise motif but did not delete its tweet supporting Tidal.

Deadmau5, the dance producer from Niagara Falls, Ont., fielded “sell-out” accusations.

For a subscription price of $19.99 per month, Tidal promises access to high-quality sound, HD music videos and a library spanning more than 25 million tracks.

Meanwhile, other streaming companies including Deezer, Rdio and Spotify offer a similar service at half the price, and also have a limited ad-supported tier that’s free to use.