Qobuz

Qobuz
TypeMusic service
Launch dateSeptember 18, 2007; 16 years ago (2007-09-18)
Availability25 countries
Websiteqobuz.com Edit this at Wikidata

Qobuz (English: /ˈkoʊˌbʌz/, commonly mispronounced: /ˈkjuːˌbʌz/) is a French digital music store and streaming service, launched in 2007 by Alexandre Leforestier and Yves Riesel. Qobuz is now owned by Xandrie SA.

Qobuz claims to offer more than 100 million tracks in CD and "Hi-Res" quality (24 bits up to 192 kHz). Purchased tracks are offered without any DRM restrictions.

All music is available in MP3 at 320 kbit/s, CD-DA quality lossless (16-bit/44.1 kHz) as well as hi-resolution quality lossless (up to 24-bit/192 kHz) for certain music; downloads are offered in either WAV, AIFF, ALAC, and FLAC for hi-res quality, with lossless WMA also available for CD quality music only, and MP3, standard WMA, and AAC in 128 kbit/s or 320 kbit/s for lossy quality.

Qobuz's name comes from the musical instrument kobyz/qobyz.

History

From 2014 to 2020 the company had a partnership with the British classical music magazine Gramophone, under which the magazine uses Qobuz to publish recommended playlists.

Qobuz was unable to secure financing, ran into financial difficulties and in 2015 Qobuz was acquired by Xandrie SA.

In April 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 crisis, Qobuz gave 100% of the revenue from each new subscriber's first paid month back to the rights holders.

In 2020 Qobuz ended its MP3 quality subscription plan, focusing instead on lossless streaming. However, MP3 is available as an option. A family plan was also added. In partnership with Quebecor, a Canadian media and telecommunications company, Qobuz launched the music streaming service QUB Music.

Availability

Platforms

Qobuz can be accessed via a web player and has apps available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS and Android compatible devices. The Windows version may also work on Linux with recent versions of Wine. The PC application restricts listening to 30-second clips and a paid subscription is required to listen to full tracks. On mobile devices the platform is only accessible after signing up for a subscription. Qobuz is compatible with Google Chromecast and TizenOS on Samsung TVs. It's also available on the music server management service Roon.

Hardware

Qobuz is available on some high-fidelity equipment from brands such as Cambridge Audio, Naim and became the first music platform to offer high-resolution 24-bit audio streaming on Sonos speakers.

Locations

Qobuz launched in eight European countries in 2014: United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands then, in 2017, in Spain and Italy. In 2019, Qobuz became available in the United States after opening a US headquarters in 2018.

In 2021, Qobuz was made available in six new countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Australia and New Zealand. In 2022, Qobuz offered its service in six new countries: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Portugal and in 2023 it was launched in Canada.

Business model

Plans

Qobuz offers the base subscription, Studio Premier, and Studio Sublime which adds a discount on digital purchases and can only be purchased annually. Both of these subscription plans are also available for two accounts or up to six.

Funding

In August 2019, the French platform raised €12 million from Nabuboto and the Quebecor Group. In September 2020, the two shareholders raised a further 10 million euros.

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-11-29 02:10 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari