Block, the Jack Dorsey-founded fintech company previously known as Square, has acquired Hifi, a music-focused fintech startup.
Hifi founder and CEO Damian Manning announced the news in a LinkedIn post yesterday. The company also updated its website, which states that it’s joining Block to “further our shared purpose of economic empowerment with the financial technologies and services we have built to help artists thrive.”
Hifi launched in 2020 as a financial rights organization for artists, enabling users to track their royalty income through a dashboard that aggregates data from music labels, distribution services, music publishers and Performing Rights Organizations (PROs). The company recently rolled out a royalty acceleration service called “Cash Flow,” which pays artists a salary twice a month.
This marks Block’s second investment in music tech after buying music streaming service Tidal in 2021. At the time of the purchase, Tidal was struggling financially and was under investigation in Norway for allegedly manipulating its streaming numbers. Subsequently, the acquisition was deemed a “terrible business decision” by Chancellor Kathaleen Saint Judge McCormick, per AP News.
Block also owns the mobile payment service Cash App, the buy-now-pay-later platform Afterpay, Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) and web builder Weebly, among others.
