{"id":39504,"date":"2023-04-26T12:16:22","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T16:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/fr\/?p=39504"},"modified":"2023-07-11T11:40:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T15:40:37","slug":"streaming-the-two-months-that-changed-our-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tedpublications.com\/fr\/en\/streaming-the-two-months-that-changed-our-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Streaming: the two months that changed our landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February\u00a017, Qu\u00e9becor<\/strong> decided to bring to an end its adventure in online music. QUB musique<\/em>, launched in May\u00a02020, will have survived for just over two and a half years. Two months later, on April\u00a019, Qobuz<\/strong> finally entered the Canadian market. Not only are the two events related, but many things have happened in the meantime.<\/p>\n

At the time of its launch, QUB musique<\/em> had prided itself on a strategic partnership with Qobuz<\/strong>. Seeing the name Qobuz<\/strong> appear in Qu\u00e9becor’s<\/strong> press releases, audiophiles in search of quality streaming<\/em> had begun to get their hopes up. But the opposite was the case.<\/p>\n

Exclusive relationships<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong>As Mathieu Turbide<\/strong>, vice-president of Qu\u00e9becor NumeriQ<\/strong> said in Le Devoir<\/em> at the time: In order to launch our service in the required time, NumeriQ has concluded an agreement with Xandrie<\/strong>, the French company that operates Qobuz<\/strong>, to take care of the management of the catalog. [\u2026] Qobuz<\/strong> provides the database to which QUB musique<\/strong> is connected. They deal [with us] in negotiations with labels and rights management companies. They operate [\u2026] the supply chain of musical content, track input, the indexing of the database, etc. The catalog of QUB musique<\/strong> is therefore very similar to that of Qobuz<\/strong>, with an increased sensitivity for local artists.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For the rest, and in particular the marketing strategy, Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cor<\/strong> had chosen to target the mass market, a kind of Spotify<\/strong> with a +\u00a0Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/em>, either in terms of mp3<\/em> audio, the absolute opposite of Qobuz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The strategic mistake was absolute. The reasons appeared clearly in an article by Alexandre Vigneault <\/strong>in La Presse<\/em> on November\u00a02, 2022, when he revealed that there was only one song in French in the Top\u00a0100<\/em> most listened to songs in Montreal on Spotify<\/strong>! You have to go through the list of the 500 most requested titles in Quebec on the different digital platforms to find 10\u00a0from here\u00a0\u2014 and those are not necessarily in French<\/em>.
\nWhat the general public did not know at the time was that Qu\u00e9becor<\/strong> is also the 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0largest shareholder of Qobuz<\/strong> and that the QUB-Qobuz<\/strong> partnership agreement<\/strong> prevented Qobuz<\/strong> from coming to Canada. We learned this in an interview with the great French boss of Qobuz<\/strong>, Georges Fornay<\/strong>, published in Le Devoir<\/em> on April\u00a019.<\/p>\n

Basically, the sale of the mp3<\/em> soup had to fail before finally having the right to stream<\/em> in HD 24\u00a0bits\u00a0\u2013 96\u00a0kHz and 24\u00a0bits\u00a0\u2013 192\u00a0kHz in the country! It’s done. And Qobuz<\/strong> keeps all its promises, since to the quality of the sound is added an effective editorial (curation<\/em>, in the traditional English terminology), and a mine of information. The integration with Audirvana<\/strong> and Roon<\/strong> is effective: offers are raining down.<\/p>\n

The end of origami<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong>This gaping hole in the supply of quality streaming<\/em> in Canada left a boulevard in our market in Tidal<\/strong>, especially since the almost unique and absolute stronghold of Tidal<\/strong> is North America and the strategy of integrating this service into many Hifi<\/em> equipment has served its expansion. Tidal<\/strong> has come a long way with MQA<\/em>, the brilliantly named Master Quality Authenticated<\/em> that has been putting on a good show for a long time.<\/p>\n

But if Qobuz<\/strong> arrived on April\u00a019 when we did not expect it before the month of May, it is probably also because on April\u00a06, MQA<\/em> filed for bankruptcy, which put Tidal<\/strong> in trouble. And then some…<\/p>\n

The company MQA<\/strong> created by Bob Stuart<\/strong>, co-founder of Meridian<\/strong> in\u00a01977, of which he was the technical director until\u00a02015, enjoyed an aura and credibility beyond the norm related to its founder, even when he explained without laughing that he managed to fold a Master<\/em> like a piece of origami to reduce its size below a 16-bit WAV<\/em> –\u00a044.1\u00a0kHz without losing quality.<\/p>\n

MQA<\/em> was indeed a compression, but with the claim to be equivalent to high resolution. More than once, it showed its true colours. With the exception of Tidal<\/strong>, no streaming<\/em> service has adopted the MQA<\/em> codec. Tidal<\/strong> made this its argument. It has no choice but to rebuild everything with an insurmountable delay (on Amazon<\/strong> for example, which has moved to HD<\/em>). And Qobuz<\/strong> is on track to equal it in terms of hardware integration.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

New players<\/span><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong>But Qobuz<\/strong> no longer enters this market smoothly<\/em>, hence its eagerness too. High resolution is not aimed at the market of rap<\/em> and hip hop<\/em> fans under the age of\u00a030, but much more at those over\u00a040 who listen to rock, pop<\/em>, classical and jazz.<\/p>\n

Classical and jazz are the two historical<\/em> segments of Qobuz<\/strong>. And on this niche, between February\u00a017 and April\u00a019, the French company saw the arrival, on February\u00a021, of the streaming<\/em> service of Presto<\/strong> and, on March\u00a028, the launch of Apple<\/strong> Classical<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The first comments on various blogs after the launch of Presto<\/strong> were not misleading: they came from Canada and said broadly: this service is perfect, especially for us who don’t have Qobuz<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Presto<\/strong> brand is well-known to music lovers. It is a UK-based mail-order record dealer, a reference in the business for two decades, specializing in classical and jazz. It has also been an effective download site since\u00a02010. The database developed for this purpose is now adapted to listening on demand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Same quality as at Qobuz<\/strong>: 24\u00a0–\u00a096 (and 24\u00a0–\u00a0192 if available), presence of the record notices. It’s like a giant record store where you can listen to everything. And, in addition, they pay artists per second of music listened to. They’re the only ones doing this with Idagio<\/strong>, another classic service, but one that doesn’t believe in HD<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The shortcomings: it is only classical and jazz, while Qobuz<\/strong> is multi-genre; it lacks all the hardware integration infrastructure (Audirvana<\/strong>, Roon<\/strong>, Bluesound<\/strong>, etc.) and it will always be a dedicated but artisanal company. There is, for example, also work to be done in relation to the integration of the application in Android Auto<\/strong> and Apple<\/strong> Car Play<\/em>, all the kinds of things that go without saying<\/em> with large companies.<\/p>\n

And Apple?<\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong>Actually… Try to connect Apple<\/strong> Classical<\/em> to Apple<\/strong> Car Play<\/em>. It’s a waste of time: everything goes through Apple<\/strong> Music<\/em>. As the name suggests, Apple<\/strong> has launched an app just for classical music lovers.<\/p>\n

Why? Because when Beethoven<\/strong> composed the 9th<\/sup>\u00a0Symphony<\/em>, he composed a work with four movements, four soloists, a choir, an orchestra and a conductor. All this information is cramped in the databases designed on the Singer-Song-Album<\/em> model. And therefore often not easy to find.<\/p>\n

Idagio<\/strong> and a company called Primephonic<\/strong> (and Presto<\/strong> today) have built streaming<\/em> services with a database adapted to classical music. Apple<\/strong> bought Primephonic<\/strong> and, after 19\u00a0months, released Apple<\/strong> Classical<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The advantages: exclusive performances by major orchestras; album previews; playlists galore to introduce yourself, your nephew, your neighbor and your sister-in-law; and a theoretical HD<\/em> broadcast.<\/p>\n

And the disadvantages? There is no documentation, no record of the CDs<\/em> listened to (unlike Qobuz<\/strong> and Presto<\/strong>); the universe is limited for the moment to the iPhone<\/em> and therefore to Bluetooth<\/em> and AirPlay<\/em>. We will therefore put a caveat on the notions of HD<\/em> and audiophilia, unless you consider it to be audiophile<\/em> to listen to a recording of Dolby<\/strong> Atmos<\/em> on AirPods Max<\/em> or plug the iPhone<\/em> on a DAC<\/em> hoping that your mom does not call you while you’re listening to Mahler<\/strong> or Pink Floyd<\/strong> in HD<\/em> to ask about the little one.<\/p>\n

The car interface is to be created, too, but there is potential when we invest in the world of the computer, an event for which Apple<\/strong> does not give a date.<\/p>\n