(November 8, 2019) As of today, Qobuz no longer supports MP3 streaming. As explained by Dan Mackta, Managing Director USA, the company views MP3 as a useless format: “Its time has come and gone.”
As a result, Qobuz will only offer one streaming plan priced at $14.99 per month ($12.50/month yearly). This new “Studio Premier” tier gives music fans access to Qobuz’s entire catalog of Hi-Res and CD-quality lossless music. Alternatively, the company will continue to offer its Sublime+ tier, giving Qobuz fans the ability to both stream and purchase downloads.
Mackta says Studio Premier will initially be offered to existing customers and 100,000 new customers, all of which must register before January 31, 2020.
At its launch, Qobuz was the first music service to offer Hi-Res streaming in 24-bit FLAC, which represents studio-quality sound. The Paris-based company currently gives users access to roughly 45 million CD-quality tracks and over 2.5 million Hi-Res tracks presented in 24-bit/192 kHz, with 10,000 new albums added per day.
“MP3 is really bad for music, artists, and listeners - so Qobuz is saying ‘no’ to MP3 and now offers only real studio quality in one accessible plan. Studio Premier is a special offer we’ve been dying to make. With the new plan, we will be pouring gasoline on the growth that has been kindled by our unique relationships in the premium audio hardware and retail industries. Our unequaled editorial and curation in specialist genres and our focus on the culture around music and audio will continue to create value for listeners. Qobuz does all this because our users’ passion for music is worth it!”
That passion is reinforced by the company’s quality standards, which include uploading unprocessed audio files as they’re received from music labels. “We spot check [uploaded files] and address every single customer complaint,” stated Mackta at today's New York Audio Show press conference. Additionally, Mackta indicated that full Apple CarPlay streaming functionality should become available in the next 6 to 8 weeks.
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