The acquisition won’t necessarily lead to more revenue, at least not right away. Tidal gives Square a third potential business line. Square already has two of those verticals – the company’s Cash App for consumers and Square Seller for small businesses. Mr Dorsey has long wanted Square to evolve from a payments company for small businesses into a broader operation with a number of standalone units. MrDorogusker said Square was less interested in Tidal’s streaming market share than its potential to bring together the common ideals of Jay-Z and Mr Dorsey, who have become close in recent years. In late 2019, Jay-Z released his music on Spotify. Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv reported Tidal had overstated its subscriber count and had been falsifying streaming data, charges the company denied. But the service struggled to keep up with competing services from Spotify, Apple, and Alphabet’s YouTube, all of which have larger customer bases. Tidal got an initial boost from exclusive access to new music from Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna, among others. They announced their vision for the service at a New York City press event where Alicia Keys declared that this moment would change music history. The rapper recruited more than a dozen of the biggest artists in the world, including Rihanna, Kanye West and Calvin Harris, as co-owners. Spotify Technology has built a multibillion-dollar business using music created by millions of artists, many of who are struggling to make ends meet.īut Jay-Z didn’t align himself with any paupers. Musicians have long complained about record labels exploiting them and that frustration hasn’t abated as they’ve transitioned to having relationships with streaming services. Jay-Z acquired Tidal for $56m in 2015 and announced plans to turn it into the first artist-owned streaming service. “Artists sell tickets, they sell special experiences,” he added. Some obvious examples would include helping musicians run their merchandise businesses. “There was a real opportunity at this intersection of music and art and the economy that was uniquely made for the pair of us,” Mr Dorogusker said. It’s not immediately clear how Square will help Tidal build its business, but there is a lot of overlap between the music industry and Square’s existing market, which includes payments and commerce, says Jesse Dorogusker, the Square executive who will serve as interim leader of Tidal inside its new parent company. Bloomberg News previously reported that Mr Dorsey and Jay-Z, who are friends, had discussed a potential deal. “New ideas are found at intersections, and we believe there’s a compelling one between music and the economy,” Square chief executive Jack Dorsey said in a prepared statement. Tidal will operate independently within Square, according to a company release, and Jay-Z will join Square’s board of directors. Square will pay $297 million in a mix of cash and stock to become Tidal’s “significant majority” owner, though Jay-Z and Tidal’s other existing artist-shareholders will retain some ownership in the company. Square has agreed to buy a majority stake in Tidal, the streaming music service led by rapper Jay-Z, as part of an effort to expand the company’s suite of financial tools to musicians and emerging artists.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |