The smallest of the music streaming platforms, Qobuz, is strengthening internationally and was to announce, on Wednesday May 4, its presence in six new countries – five in South America, where the market recorded its highest rate of worldwide growth in 2021 (+32.5%, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), and Portugal. Now, the French platform offers its services in 25 countries, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia. In Japan, it also acquired, in 2021, e-Onkyo Music, a Japanese high-resolution download service.
This pioneering high-resolution sound service is aimed primarily at audiophiles and music lovers who mostly listen to music at home on speakers or quality headphones. Music lovers who invest fortunes in their equipment. Even if Apple Music and Amazon Music have also recently offered high resolution. Like its sisters, Qobuz provides access to 80 million titles of all genres (pop rock, jazz, classical, soul, R’n’B, etc.) in its catalog.
“We don’t fight at all in the same category”, admits Georges Fornay, Deputy CEO of Qobuz, talking about its major competitors Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and even Deezer. Qobuz account “around 500,000 subscribers”he says, where Spotify claims 180 million… In the top 10 of the most listened to albums, we find classics, like the Stabat Mater by Vivaldi conducted by Jan Tomasz Adamus (Warner Classics, 2022) or the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach, conducted by Raphaël Pichon (Harmonia Mundi, 2022).
Still in deficit
“Our target is older than that of our colleagues”explains Mr. Fornay, detailing: “ Our typical clients are over 40 years old, urban and of high socio-professional category. » A niche and high-end positioning like that of the German platform Idagio, specializing in classical music, or Primephonic, acquired by Apple Music in 2021. Born in 2007, Qobuz was taken over, at the helm of the commercial court in 2015, by Denis Thébaud, CEO of the video game distribution company Innelec.
Since then, this start-up has raised 20 million euros to try to establish itself. The management relies both on the sound quality and on the editorialization of the musical offer (by offering 500,000 articles and reviews, booklets, interviews with the artists, biographies, test benches, etc.). If the music streaming market is doing wonderfully, both in France and around the world, downloading is collapsing. However, Qobuz is betting on this sector by offering very high definition.
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