Square, Inc, the financial services company founded by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, is acquiring a majority stake in Tidal, the high-fidelity audio and video streaming service led by Jay Z. Square is paying $297 million in cash and stock for a “significant majority ownership stake,” with Tidal operating independently alongside Square’s other ventures.
Asking the obvious question in a thread on Twitter, Dorsey said: “Why would a music streaming company and a financial services company join forces?!” His answer: to find “new ways for artists to support their work.” Just as Square gave sellers now tools to make money, Dorsey says the company’s stake in Tidal will help artists find similar support in the new digital economy.
“Given what Square has been able to do for sellers of all sizes and individuals through Cash App, we believe we can now work for artists to see the same success for them, and us,” tweeted Dorsey. “We’re going to start small and focus on the most critical needs of artists and growing their fanbases.”
“Square created ecosystems of tools for sellers & individuals, and we’ll 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.”
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