[rkw]

I have a friend who works as an aircraft pilot and obviously travels all the time, he says facing issues in some countries. He can't connect to Qobuz because it's not available in that country, he is on their most premium subscription and can't even enjoy it.

Within all streaming service providers, only Deezer and Apple Music seems to work everywhere, why Tidal, Spotify and Qobuz don't allow connection to their customers abroad?

It is probably due to their music licensing agreements. However, I just looked at Spotify and they say international access is available for Premium accounts, or 14 days for free accounts:
https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/system_settings/travel-with-spotify/

 

[rkw]

double post

 

[afreekindazone]

I just looked at Spotify and they say international access is available for Premium accounts, or 14 days for free accounts:
https://support.spotify.com/is/using_spotify/system_settings/travel-with-spotify/

That's not true, as he tried several times to use Spotify abroad and it doesn't work in some countries. The application is not even available to download on Play Store, even if install through external apk still doesn't work

 

[Left Channel]

I have a friend who works as an aircraft pilot and obviously travels all the time, he says facing issues in some countries. He can't connect to Qobuz because it's not available in that country, he is on their most premium subscription and can't even enjoy it.

Within all streaming service providers, only Deezer and Apple Music seems to work everywhere, why Tidal, Spotify and Qobuz don't allow connection to their customers abroad?

Licensing rights restrictions. Having said that, I have been able to roam some with my Qobuz subscriptions.

 

[Left Channel]

I looked at my credit card statements. My most recent Tidal billing was from Florida, but a year ago the charge was listed from Malmo, Sweden. However, I was billed $19.99 USD and no indication of conversion or fee. Do you mean that you were billed in Swedish Krona and converted to USD? Don't want to get too off topic, but this is interesting.

Yes, interesting. That's new information about Florida, thanks! I just checked, and until May of last year I was billed by "Aspiro AB" for Tidal. I can't remember how many years ago I switched from a credit card to avoid the international transaction fee, and I can't remember if it said Sweden or Norway at the time. PayPal called Asprio "non-US", but did not specify a location. Since Aspiro is a Norwegian company I "remembered" that, but actually Tidal is officially based in Sweden so that may have been what the transactions said. Anyway, last May they switched to a US billing location and I didn't even notice. Guess I can switch to the credit card again now if I want to.

 

[afreekindazone]

Licensing rights restrictions. Having said that, I have been able to roam some with my Qobuz subscriptions.

Weird liscensing rights restrictions as the same albums can be found on Deezer and Apple Music and both are available everywhere.

 

[animeismylife]

Weird liscensing rights restrictions as the same albums can be found on Deezer and Apple Music and both are available everywhere.

Hmm, technically your friend shouldn't be facing any problems in any country. Ask him to write to support and mention the countries where he was unable to use Qobuz... Hope they are able to solve the problem, if not, there's always VPN ^__^

 

[Left Channel]

Weird liscensing rights restrictions as the same albums can be found on Deezer and Apple Music and both are available everywhere.

Apple has 132,000 employees worldwide, plus vendors, including local attorneys and other representatives that are often needed to help secure local licensing rights.

Qobuz has about 65 employees and is just beginning to expand out of Europe. They'll get there.

 

[afreekindazone]

They'll get there.

Hope the same for Spotify and Tidal, coz they are losing a lot of money with these restrictions.

 

[rkw]

That's not true, as he tried several times to use Spotify abroad and it doesn't work in some countries. The application is not even available to download on Play Store, even if install through external apk still doesn't work

He should contact Spotify and ask them. I gave a link to an official Spotify support page, and it clearly states that Premium subscribers have international access. They even made a video to explain it.

 

[Likeimthere]

So I signed up for the free month of Qobuz... so far I have mixed feelings... the sound quality to my ears sounds cleaner and more dynamic than Tidal. I picked up on details that I didn’t pick up on with the same songs on Tidal.

However, the music library, as it pertains to my music, is quite lack luster... I’m sure it will change over time...

This will be an interesting month...

 

[goaud27]

My first experience of buying lossless music on Qobuz:

All songs in 2 albums have cut-offs. Simply lossy files upconverted to FLAC. Not sure if it's an intended fraud or an absence of QC.

 

[runssical]

That's pretty DAMN bad right there! Worse than MP3

 

[Left Channel]

My first experience of buying lossless music on Qobuz:

All songs in 2 albums have cut-offs. Simply lossy files upconverted to FLAC. Not sure if it's an intended fraud or an absence of QC.

They will refund your money if you bring this to their attention.

 

[goaud27]

They will refund your money if you bring this to their attention.

I don't mind few bucks, but the absence of responsibility from their side drives me angry. Even if they refund, I doubt they will stop selling this fake FLAC (won't be surprised if there is more out there).