Rihanna, Madonna and more help Jay Z launch Tidal streaming service

A slew of big names such as Rihanna and Madonna were on hand to help Jay Z launch his new music streaming service.

The rapper's company Project Panther bought Aspiro - a Swedish tech firm that runs two streaming music services (WiMP and Tidal) - for $56 million (£37.7m) in March.

He relaunched Tidal last night (March 30) and it is billing itself as a "high fidelity" subscription-based streaming platform.

A series of massive names - including Nicki Minaj, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk and Kanye West - took part in the launch.

A number of the musicians were seen signing a contract at a launch event in New York City.

They all hold a stake in the company, which unlike Spotify does not have a free service.

Speaking to Billboard, Jay Z said that Tidal isn't just aimed at audiophiles.

He said: "We want it to be open to everyone. So yeah, that would be part of it, but the pricing will be tiered, because we want to present it to as many people as possible.

"But it definitely appeals to people who really care about the music and want to hear it the way it’s intended. And hopefully some day with technology we figure out how to deliver that high-def sound, maybe even in a $9.99 model. Who knows what the future holds."

The standard subscription to Tidal costs $9.99/£9.99 whilst the high quality version is $19.99/£19.99.

Watch Tidal being launched below: