Tidal Artists Cash In On Jay Z Selling Streaming to Square!

We reported last week that Jay Z sold Tidal To Square, but what we didn’t tell you is that all the artists who owned a 3% stake in Tidal are now roughly $9 million dollars richer. Read on since 16 Tidal Artists Cash In on the sale…

Both @liltunechi & @nickiminaj were part of the initial artist ownership of @tidal with a 3% stake!

That means their 3% is now worth $9 MM with the sale to Square for $297 MM ? pic.twitter.com/PeokcneWjB

— WATCH ANACONDA (@YoungMoneySite) March 9, 2021

CelebnMusic247.com reports that sixteen artists in addition to Jay Z have just cashed in on the sale of Tidal.

Back in 2015, 16 artist stakeholders in March 2015 proved to be a prescient sign of the streaming service’s trajectory, and now that investment has paid off.

The artist list who just cashed in from the sale of Tidal are; Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, and Regine Chassagne, Beyoncé, Calvin Harris, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Daft Punk, Damian Marley, deadmau5, Indochine, J. Cole, Jack White, Jason Aldean, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, T.I., and Usher.

What We’ve Learned:

On the surface, $297 million is a decent return on investment for Jay-Z, which purchased Tidal’s parent company Aspiro for $56 million in January 2015. But that’s paltry compared to the $200 million Sprint paid for a 33% stake in the company in 2017, effectively valuing the company at $600 million at the time. Sources tell Variety the Square news comes off as “fire sale” pricing, at a time when Jay-Z appear to be selling other assets for quick cash flow. Just last week, Jay Z sold 50% of his Armand de Brignac champagne to luxury goods company LVMH for a reported $600 million — netting him an estimated $300 million for his ownership.

Dorsey tweeted on Thursday morning:

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.

Tidal Sale Breakdown For Artists Invovled:

But it appears that the big winners in the Square investment are Jay-Z and his 15 initial artist partners. As Billboard reported at the time, each act was gifted 3% in equity of Tidal in an effort to provide exclusive content that would help drive value for the subscription price. Based on the math of Square’s investment alone, each of those acts should expect to pocket a cool $8.91 million apiece for their time spent helping the service launch. – Variety