Niche music streaming service Tidal has announced layoffs, with up to a quarter of its 400 staff tipped to be shown the door.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Tidal’s parent company Block, told staff he wanted Tidal to regain the feeling of a startup. And that meant a smaller wages bill.

“So we’re going to part ways with a number of folks on our team,” said Dorsey, the bearded late-40s billionaire who cofounded Twitter, and made his fortune selling it to unusual tech type Elon Musk.

“We’re going to lead with engineering and design, and remove the product management and product marketing functions entirely,” Dorsey’s note to employees said.

“We’re reducing the size of our design team and foundational roles supporting Tidal, and we will consider reducing engineering over the next few weeks as we have more clarity around leadership going forward.”

Tidal’s audio.

Tidal, which leans in on its high quality lossless audio, remains a minnow in music streaming, light years behind the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. It claims to have about 110 million songs in its library.

While some laud the goal of delivering high-grade audio, others say that unless the gear you’re using to listen to those songs – headphones, amps, speakers – is also premium, there is little point.

A Tidal subscription in Australia starts at $6.49 per month for a student. An individual sub is $12.99 monthly, while the family package for up to six people is $19.99 monthly.

Last December Tidal laid off about 40 staff. 

“We have made some internal changes to our Tidal team to focus on serving artists in the most meaningful way,” a Tidal spokesperson said in a statement.  

“This involved the elimination of some roles across our business and design teams. We are going to be smaller, focus on fewer things, and move with a relentless approach to product development.” 

Block, a financial services and mobile payments company, owns Square, Cash App, After Pay and BitKey.