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Brett_11
Contributor I
February 23, 2022
Answered

Any Updates on why Tidal Albums appear Multiple Times in Sonos Controller?

  • February 23, 2022
  • 11 replies
  • 656 views

I see this question was posted over a year ago, but no one seemed to know the answer (unless I missed it?). So I figured I’d ask again!  As an example, if I go into the Tidal Android app or the Tidal desktop app and look up Elvis Costello’s King of America, it is listed exactly one time. But in the Sonos app, it lists three times, and each one looks identical:

Clicking on them, there is no difference in track listing. On Tidal, this album is listed as “Master” quality. So one possibility is that Tidal, behind the scenes, has three different steam types available for this same album. Perhaps, that’s why Sonos shows it like it is three different albums? Maybe each one sound a bit different? I’m curious if Sonos or Tidal has addressed why this is happening. (I realize this is probably Tidal’s issue, but since it makes it harder to use Sonos, it would be great if Sonos could pressure Tidal to fix -- or at least tell us what is broken so that Tidal users like myself could approach Tidal to fix!). Thanks.

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths

Online, in the now-distant past, there has been mention of this issue on Tidal and it was said that some Albums were issued/re-issued by the record labels and in some cases they were for availability in different Countries and that it was down to Tidal to consolidate those that had no difference, but I guess, if that is indeed the case🤔, that it’s ‘perhaps’ an on-going issue for Tidal.

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jgatie
jgatie
February 24, 2022

I must disagree. Sonos brings customers to Tidal. Customers who pay Tidal. In fact, they bring the kind of customer who Tidal is trying to reach -- folks who care a lot about audio fidelity. The kind of customer that will pay for a premium level of Tidal. So I do think they have influence and that Tidal’s developers would absolutely take a phone call from them. 

Lastly, as I noted earlier, as a paying Tidal customer, I would like to put pressure on Tidal too.  But their devs won’t take a phone call from me. And if I contact customer service at Tidal (I have) they don’t know what I’m talking about (they aren’t metadata experts on the customer service line). But if Sonos described the problem in a public forum, I could point to it and say “hey Tidal -- can you fix this technical issue that Sonos has found.” Similarly, tech journalists could cover it and point to the Sonos post and put additional pressure on them.

 

And as always with these issues, you have no idea if Sonos has already put pressure on Tidal.  They may have, and been rebuked.  This has indeed happened in the past, as admitted by Spotify.

Next you will ask Sonos to inform on their partner service if they have been rebuked, and I reply they would never throw a music partner under the bus like that, and we are back to square one.

Get in touch with Tidal.

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