Jack Dorsey's Square buys a majority stake in Jay-Z's streaming service TIDAL

By Emmanuel Legrand

Square, the payment-processing and financial services company set up by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has acquired from US rapper Jay-Z a “significant majority ownership stake” in music streaming service TIDAL for $297 million in cash and stock.

  The original artists who took shares in the service will now become the second largest group of shareholders in TIDAL. As part of the deal, Jay-Z is joining the Square board. TIDAL will operate independently within Square, with Jesse Dorogusker, the Hardware Lead at Square serving as interim CEO. 

  "I said from the beginning that TIDAL was about more than just streaming music, and six years later, it has remained a platform that supports artists at every point in their careers. Artists deserve better tools to assist them in their creative journey," wrote Jay-Z on Twitter, adding: "This partnership will be a game-changer for many. I look forward to all this new chapter has to offer!" 

Finding new ways to support artists

  "Why would a music streaming company and a financial services company join forces?!" asked Dorsey, who also serves as Chief Executive of Square. "It comes down to a simple idea: finding new ways for artists to support their work. New ideas are found at the intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy. Making the economy work for artists is similar to what Square has done for sellers."

  He added: "TIDAL started with the idea of honoring artists by being artist-owned and led, focused on an uncompromised experience of the art. It's refreshing and right. The vision only grows stronger as it’s matched with more powerful tools for artists, inclusive of new ways of getting paid."

  Dorsey said Square created ecosystems of tools for sellers and individuals, and plans to "do the same for artists. We’ll work on entirely new listening experiences to bring fans closer together, simple integrations for merch sales, modern collaboration tools, and new complementary revenue streams."

Keep the promise of putting creators first

  British performer and songwriter Crispin Hunt, Chair of the Ivors Academy, picked up on Dorsey’s echoing TIDAL’s promise of putting creators first. "If he keeps that promise there’s hope. If he reaps that promise...creators stay broke.”

  TIDAL was built from the infrastructure of Aspiro, a streaming service founded in Norway in 2014. Jay-Z and a group of investors including artists, bought Aspiro for $56m in 2015. The original list of shareholders included Coldplay, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk and Madonna. It is not know which artists are still shareholders in TIDAL.

  TIDAL was designed to be an artist-friendly platform that remunerated artists better than other services, and provided consumers with hi-resolution sound. However, the service failed to attract sufficient subscribers to be viable despite a $200 million investment from telecom operator Sprint. The platform is present in 53 countries.

  TIDAL's recent financial results have not been disclosed and its total number of subscribers is unknown.