[CaptainFantastic]

I have been a Qobuz subscriber for nearly two years. I pay 19.99 EUR per month for their HiFi plan (CD quality). Now I see that they offer up to FLAC quality on the same library of songs for 14.99 USD in the U.S.?

Is this true? How can they justify that we pay nearly 25% more (without considering the exchange rate!) for lower quality in Europe?

 

[TK33]

I have been a Qobuz subscriber for nearly two years. I pay 19.99 EUR per month for their HiFi plan (CD quality). Now I see that they offer up to FLAC quality on the same library of songs for 14.99 USD in the U.S.?

Is this true? How can they justify that we pay nearly 25% more (without considering the exchange rate!) for lower quality in Europe?

Yes, this is a promo they ran a few months ago which ended up becoming their permanent pricing here in the US.

Can't help you with the second question.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Yes, this is a promo they ran a few months ago which ended up becoming their permanent pricing here in the US.

Can't help you with the second question.

Yes. I mean the whole winning market share strategy, etc., etc., is not lost on me. I didn't flunk my marketing or economics courses. That may work with cars and other tangible goods.

But it's deeply unfair in the digital world to do this. So an American can subscribe to Qobuz, then move to Europe, and enjoy his Hi-Res plan for 75% the cost of my CD quality plan?

I will just unsubscribe. It's deeply unfair and I can't stand it, so there is only one thing to do.

 

[judson_w]

This is pure speculation on my part as to why there could be a price difference. Between Europe and the US, there might be different companies, entities, whatever that control the music rights. If the entities are different, the amount that Qobuz has to pay in Europe to host and stream the new Lady Gaga album might be different from what it is in the US. Even if it is the same entity or company that owns the rights in both places, that does not mean they would charge the same in both places. I am sure there are taxes on the payment of those rights or royalties which are not the same either.

I can understand the frustration, but the digital world is still not fair and equal yet. It is why there are region locks on DVDs and Blu-Rays, and also why sometimes you might go on youtube and get met with "this content is not available in your region".

 

[CaptainFantastic]

@judson_w I see your point. But 1) Qobuz is a French company, their costs here should be lower than the costs associated with entering and expanding in the NA market and 2) so much music has nothing to do with U.S. artists and their rights. Not only is my Classical Music playlist almost void of U.S. recordings, but so much even in the other genres is from non-U.S. artists.

I imagine they decided to fund their U.S. market share drive with their EU subscriber base, which they probably take for granted since Tidal doesn't have a presence here.

Being in the EU, I understand paying more for food because there are different safety and quality regulations. I understand paying more for a VW of the same model, because it has higher fuel efficiency and meets higher safety standards. I understand paying higher prices for this and that and it's a trade off many consumers are happy to make. But to pay a French company 25% more for a music subscription service than what they ask their U.S. customers to pay, and on top of it for an inferior quality plan... for me this meant unsubscribe.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

@judson_w I see your point. But 1) Qobuz is a French company, their costs here should be lower than the costs associated with entering and expanding in the NA market and 2) so much music has nothing to do with U.S. artists and their rights. Not only is my Classical Music playlist almost void of U.S. recordings, but so much even in the other genres is from non-U.S. artists.

I imagine they decided to fund their U.S. market share drive with their EU subscriber base, which they probably take for granted since Tidal doesn't have a presence here.

Being in the EU, I understand paying more for food because there are different safety and quality regulations. I understand paying more for a VW of the same model, because it has higher fuel efficiency and meets higher safety standards. I understand paying higher prices for this and that and it's a trade off many consumers are happy to make. But to pay a French company 25% more for a music subscription service than what they ask their U.S. customers to pay, and on top of it for an inferior quality plan... for me this meant unsubscribe.

As somebody who has lived and worked on 3 continents the answer is too complicated for me to understand. But I know a big part of it is based on greed + stupid in at least equal proportions. Europeans earn less, have a higher cost of living, lower standard of living, and pay more for everything, even European goods compared to Americans. This is a generalization of course and it varies based on where you are in Europe because it's a big place comprised of many countries. And that equation gets even worse in Asia. But I think it is correct. It's outrageous that in an era of globalization people are expected to pay different prices to get the same stuff and like it. That's just wrong, and we notAmericans are sick of the economic inequality and price-gouging.

 

[Simple Man]

And it’s not even tax we have to pay like we do on goods in Europe. But what if we all gonna use a VPN for qobuz like your located in the USA, that must work I suppose.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Nah, #1 who would feel good about doing something shady, this hobby is about feeling good and #2 you probably need a U.S. credit card or bank account.

 

[Left Channel]

And it’s not even tax we have to pay like we do on goods in Europe. But what if we all gonna use a VPN for qobuz like your located in the USA, that must work I suppose.

Nah, #1 who would feel good about doing something shady, this hobby is about feeling good and #2 you probably need a U.S. credit card or bank account.

Sad to say, they've already plugged that hole. Before it was available in the USA I used VPN to sign up for a UK account, paying via PayPal. I could then play music without VPN. But a year later people told me they tried the same thing and failed, because Qobuz was accessing their billing addresses. Lucky for me, by then it had launched in the USA and had built up enough of a catalog here.

 

[Left Channel]

I have been a Qobuz subscriber for nearly two years. I pay 19.99 EUR per month for their HiFi plan (CD quality). Now I see that they offer up to FLAC quality on the same library of songs for 14.99 USD in the U.S.?

Is this true? How can they justify that we pay nearly 25% more (without considering the exchange rate!) for lower quality in Europe?

The price is £14.99 in the UK now. Not exactly the same amount but it is a price drop, and closer than €19.99. Maybe this will happen in the EU eventually too, but it may require difficult negotiations with the labels among other things.

 

[runssical]

Sad to say, they've already plugged that hole. Before it was available in the USA I used VPN to sign up for a UK account, paying via PayPal. I could then play music without VPN. But a year later people told me they tried the same thing and failed, because Qobuz was accessing their billing addresses. Lucky for me, by then it had launched in the USA and had built up enough of a catalog here.

This happened to me 2 years ago. I thought I was locked out for using a VPN. I took a break from Qobuz for about a year because they wouldn't accept any credit card. I even tried setting up a PayPal with a fake address and virtual temporary credit card number and a French mailing address. Still rejected my transaction attempts. Finally got back in when the USA site launched.

I'm on Tidal rn but will be switching back to Qobuz in July.

 

[runssical]

Is there a way to track the total number of albums and tracks on Qobuz available for streaming in the USA? I want to see if they're making any progress in expanding the North American catalog.

 

[Blueshound24]

Sad to say I am done with Qobuz. I thought it was going to be good, but there are just way too many holes in it's library for my preferences in music. I love blues and jazz, and it's just missing way too many albums of some of my favorite artists. I gave it about a year and was heartened by talk of qobuz continually adding to their libraries but I didn't see any Improvement. So back to Tidal I go.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Sad to say I am done with Qobuz. I thought it was going to be good, but there are just way too many holes in it's library for my preferences in music. I love blues and jazz, and it's just missing way too many albums of some of my favorite artists. I gave it about a year and was heartened by talk of qobuz continually adding to their libraries but I didn't see any Improvement. So back to Tidal I go.

Thanks. This is bad news but helpful. I have Tidal and Quboz is not available here. I have similar music preferences to you and I found too many songs missing from albums. I had Deezer hifi and while the streaming quality was very good the app and support got worse and worse and I cancelled it. The desktop app was horrible. Paging didn't work so if you scroll forward in an artist list and want to go back and forth like you can on Tidal, it broke and you could not. Took 6 months to fix. And then deezer kept losing your userid and password every few days and then you had to go through a captcha dialog with like 4 or 5 steps to log on again! We complained about it in the forums for months and apologies but nothing changed. Staying with Tidal due to MQA but I am looking to add a hires service.

 

[rkw]

Is there a way to track the total number of albums and tracks on Qobuz available for streaming in the USA?

There is no way to "track" the number of albums/tracks for any of the streaming services. We only know the information they announce in press releases.