The latest news from your favourite online music service, Qobuz!
On the 14th of January 2016, a Press Conference was held at the Grande Armée Studio in Paris on the occasion of the takeover of Qobuz by Xandrie SA.Those present during the conference were the following:- Denis THÉBAUD – President of Xandrie SA- Yves RIESEL - Co-founder of Qobuz- Quentin LEREDDE – CTO at Qobuz - Malcolm OUZERI - Marketing Manager at Qobuz- Benoît RÉBUS - Manager, Hardware Partnerships at Qobuz
Yves began proceedings by thanking all those who allowed Qobuz to survive during the safeguard period, recalling how the community of producers and labels had supported Qobuz - especially the three Majors in France, but also the leading independent labels. He also wished Denis Thébaud, the buyer and President of Xandrie SA, the best of luck in developing Qobuz for the future.
Denis Thébaud then presented his plan for this development, which aims to consolidate all of the important characteristics of the service, to strengthen investment in the technical, commercial and business marketing projects currently underway in order to offer our subscribers and customers the best service possible. This revamping of the service will also target improvements in much-needed functionalities clearly requested by our users as part of a recent survey. Finally, Denis reminded the audience that the vast majority of the original Qobuz team had been taken on in the same premises.
Qobuz announces the upcoming evolutions of its productTo continue to honour the promise of delivering a top-quality music service, Qobuz announced the following developments at the conference:
New Qobuz Player and Qobuz Desktop applications: Hi-Res compatibility, new search engine, redesign of user interface
The Qobuz Family subscription: The Qobuz musical experience for the entire family
New functionalities: new tools for musical recommendation (Webradio, Algorithms, Playlists, Alerts for artists/labels), new community and social functions (Sharing,...)
New version of API (v3): enrichment and standardization of metadata, a more plentiful and open integration with audio manufacturers and third-party applications
An enriched mobile experience: Qobuz Mag mobile app, Hi-Res with WindowsPhone, Qobuz Music app passes to API v3
Finally, it should be noted that despite the recent situation, Qobuz ended the year with sales up 55% and introduced many important technological innovations in recent months:
Hi-Res Streaming (world exclusive)
Integration of Qobuz Connect with GoogleCast: supported by Google, who have made their protocol Hi-Res compatible.
Hi-Res streaming compatibility with more than 10 prestigious audio brand partners (LINN, DEVIALET, BLUESOUND, AUDIRVANA, SAMSUNG, etc.)
Migration to the Cloud (Amazon Web Services)
Use of Qobuz with the Apple Watch
Presentation of Qobuz Hi-Res streaming prototype with Sony at IFA in BerlinAn ambitious plan for development
The customer survey conducted in November 2015 with 80,000 clients and subscribers confirmed that Qobuz caters to discerning music lovers. It also revealed that Qobuz is for all enthusiastic lovers of music.
30% play a musical instrument (10% being the national average)
All passionate music lovers: audiophiles, young, old, from classical to electro
With the additional resources, Qobuz intends to address a wider customer base, reaching out to all lovers of music. Qobuz now has the weapons to develop this growing market.With the takeover by Xandrie, Qobuz will benefit from additional resources:
5 Million euros of investment in technical developments
7 Million euros of marketing investment
Maintaining and strengthening of the team in terms of human resources
Pooling and synergy of resources for support functions between Qobuz and Xandrie
Strengthened presence in 9 countries Qobuz markets (France, Germany, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria) and opening of new European countries.
Qobuz is the service of all music lovers, poorly served by the "mainstream" offers currently available.
Qobuz, now edited by Xandrie SA.
Since December 29, 2015, which was the date of the judgment of the Commercial Court, French high quality online music streaming and download service Qobuz was taken over by Xandrie, specialist in culture and digital entertainment.Among the ambitions Xandrie has for Qobuz: strengthening the Qobuz brand, its services, its positioning and indeed, its international development. This recovery allows the emergence of a new player in culture and digital entertainment.Some Photos © Jean-Baptiste Millot
