Qobuz Hi-Res Music Streaming and Download Service Now Available in US

Qobuz is now finally available in the US. A hybrid streaming service and download store, Qobuz boasts approximately forty million CD-quality (16-bit) and millions of Hi-Res (24-bit/ 192 kHz) tracks, the largest available selection of Hi-Res streaming tracks anywhere. The service offers four different access tiers, with the Sublime+ ($299.99/year) and Studio ($24.99/month) options allowing access to FLAC Hi-Res streaming, the first of its kind in the world.

Music subscription services are gaining traction as the dominant way consumers listen to music, with smartphones and new devices, such as smart speakers, driving adoption of these services, especially among younger audiences. "Audiomonitor 2018: The Overall Music Listening Landscape," is a new report provided to the Music Business Association (Music Biz) from research firm AudienceNet. The report was based on a survey of a statistically and demographically representative sample of the US population (3000 participants, aged 16+).

It could be argued that the proliferation of smart speakers in the last 2 years has heralded the biggest evolution of music consumption we have seen since the launch of the iPod, iPhone or even CD. The BPI and ERA held an event in London on Tuesday 20th March 2018, that tackled the smart speaker impact on music consumption. Futuresource was proud to be on the bill, alongside several esteemed industry leaders and experts.

Futuresource Consulting has just completed their latest round of research into the global music market and the conclusion is that the industry is celebrating its strongest performance in 15 years. Global consumer spend across packaged, subscription and pay-per downloads grew by 5% to reach almost $19 billion, primarily fueled by the growth in streaming music subscription services, which accounted for one quarter of all music market spend.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) published its annual Year-End Sales & Shipments report for 2015 and the results show that digital music subscription services reached new all-time highs, generating more than $1 billion in revenues for the first time, and averaging nearly 11 million paid subscriptions for the year. Revenues from vinyl albums also increased and represented a record $416 million.

TIDAL, the Norwegian High Fidelity lossless music streaming service with HD music videos and curated editorial, announced it will launch its service in 22 new countries during the first quarter of 2015. The company also confirmed twelve home audio integration partners are already live with TIDAL, namely, Sonos, Bluesound, Linn, Simple Audio, Auralic, Mirage, Squeezebox, Amarra sQ, Mcintosh, Wadia, Electrocompaniet and Meridian.

Futuresource Consulting hosted its Audio Renaissance event in London on 23 October featuring prominent industry executives to explore the future landscape. “The Audio Renaissance: Market Dynamics in the New Audio Age” conference explored the business opportunities within music and audio, the services, hardware and content that will shape the future landscape.