Left Channel
1000+ Head-Fier
All the above speculation about the relative business prospects of Qobuz seem to me like comparing apples to oranges. Qobuz is under new ownership, guided by a very conservative business model focused on the audiophile market. Audiophiles, a small portion of the overall market, tend to pay more for quality. The small companies and small corporate divisions that make products for audiophiles do very well, thank you very much. Luxury cars are only 6% of the US car market. Does that make those brands failures?
As for Tidal, their strategy is broader, focused on several segments at once including the relatively small lossless market and the very large R&B/Hip-Hop category. But Tidal is not the topic of this thread, nor is the entire music streaming industry which is as I'm sure you know not profitable overall. Apple doesn't even need to make money in streaming to be profitable, while Spotify does and is apparently trying to get there through massive growth. But there are some bright spots, including — of all companies — RealNetworks Napster (Rhapsody), which achieved profitability last year based on a niche market focus. So niche, in fact, we have no idea who their customers are...much of it seems to be "white label" rebranded streaming for other companies.
Qobuz may be one of those bright spots too. Their executives project profitability within a few years, but that depends upon many factors, some out of their control. We shall see.
As for Tidal, their strategy is broader, focused on several segments at once including the relatively small lossless market and the very large R&B/Hip-Hop category. But Tidal is not the topic of this thread, nor is the entire music streaming industry which is as I'm sure you know not profitable overall. Apple doesn't even need to make money in streaming to be profitable, while Spotify does and is apparently trying to get there through massive growth. But there are some bright spots, including — of all companies — RealNetworks Napster (Rhapsody), which achieved profitability last year based on a niche market focus. So niche, in fact, we have no idea who their customers are...much of it seems to be "white label" rebranded streaming for other companies.
Qobuz may be one of those bright spots too. Their executives project profitability within a few years, but that depends upon many factors, some out of their control. We shall see.