Twitter CEO Dorsey’s payment processor acquires majority stake in Tidal

Square has bought a majority stake in Tidal from rapper Jay-Z. The payment processor pays 248 million euros for it. With the acquisition, Square CEO Jack Dorsey says that Tidal will soon be able to better help musicians earn money.

It is not clear in the press release how many shares Square is taking in Tidal. Square talks about a “significant majority stake.” Both Jay-Z and the musicians who were already shareholders will continue to have a stake in the company. Tidal will continue to operate independently within Square.

Artists, according to Tidal, are entrepreneurs ‘with a dream’ who need access to systems to realize their dreams. Square CEO Jack Dorsey thinks Square can help with that and says the music industry and the money industry have common ground. On Twitter writes Dorsey wanting to focus first on ‘the most critical needs of artists and growing their fan base’. There will also be ‘new listening experiences’ to bring fans closer together, it should be easier to buy merchandise and there will be new revenue streams for artists.

Tidal is a music streaming service that was founded in Norway in 2014. The streaming service is known for the lossless CD quality of the streams. In addition, the company claims to pay the highest royalties to artists within the streaming industry. Jay-Z took over the company in early 2015.

Payment processor Square was founded in 2009 by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, among others. The company makes, among other things, a scanner that you plug into a Lightning or 3.5 mm port and that lets you scan the magnetic strip of a bank card. The company also sells cash register systems and cash handling software.