Jay Z held a star-studded press conference to relaunch his music streaming service

Jay Z held a press conference in New York filled with some of the biggest names in music in order to promote his newly acquired streaming site Tidal

The press conference started off by talking about the history of music, and then moved on to say that Tidal is owned by artists, claiming that it will "continue to evolve." A Tidal spokesperson said that the relaunched streaming site will also include full offline play, just like Spotify.

Then, a long line-up of musicians was introduced, including Jay Z, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Jack White, J Cole, Daft Punk, Madonna, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Deadmau5, Calvin Harris, Chris Martin, Jason Aldean, Usher and Arcade Fire.

Here's a photo of almost all of Tidal's co-owners on stage:

Alicia Keys emphasised that Tidal is the world's first streaming platform owned by musicians. She went on to say that Tidal will deliver "exclusive experiences that will be available nowhere else.

Each artist and Tidal co-owner then signed a declaration that details their aim for the streaming service.

The musicians then stood around awkwardly for a few minutes as the crowd took photos. Jay Z seemed distracted, darting backstage and repeatedly pointing at something in the audience. They eventually filed off and the stage lights dimmed, then a video of the musicians meeting in LA played. 

Earlier today, Tidal announced that it was introducing a lower-cost tier. The premium tier was updated to cost $9.99 per month, but the Hi-fi service is still $19.99.

Tidal turned social media blue earlier today, as some of the biggest names in music changed their Twitter and Facebook profiles light blue in support of Jay Z's streaming site. Musicians such as Madonna and Kanye West shared a video showing the musicians meeting in LA to talk about streaming.

Jay Z acquired Aspiro, the company behind Tidal, in March for $56 million. It looked like the acquisition had hit a snag when a group of minority shareholders who control 10% of Aspiro were preparing to reject the takeover bid. But the group had a change of heart and later decided to accept Jay Z's bid.

Aspiro, parent company of streaming sites WiMP and Tidal, isn't especially well-known outside of the audiophile community. There are two main things it does different to rival streaming sites like Spotify: It offers streaming of lossless, high-resolution music, as well as curated playlists.