Qobuz partners with Canadian telco, Québecor who launched QUB Musique, a streaming platform in Quebec in May. The streaming service is currently in beta with a web player and mobile apps (iOS and Android) offering 50 million tracks in 320kbps MP3. There is no information available about the possible availability of the service in the rest of Canada or whether higher audio quality streams could be rolled out in the future.
The QUB music platform is the result of a strategic and financial partnership with Qobuz leveraging its experience in the field of streaming and downloading high-quality music. Québecor’s teams developed the web and mobile platforms as well as the user experience specific to QUB Musique.
Videotron mobile customers can take advantage of a free trial until July 2020. Subscriptions then are CAN$4.99/month + tax and there are no long term commitments. Non Videotron users can get an individual subscription package for CAN$11.99/month + tax after the free trial period.
Qobuz is currently available in 11 countries in Europe (France, UK, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Italy and Ireland) and was launched in the US in February 2019. To continue its expansion, Qobuz aims to accelerate its international development through new agreements with global players in the media and telecommunications world.
Denis Thébaud, Chairman and CEO of Qobuz, said “We are committed to a long-term investment strategy. We are committed to seeking new partnerships with foreign media and operators who share our values and convictions in terms of music distribution. We are working alongside these companies, but also with artists and labels to promote quality and promote musical diversity. The success of the QUB Musique project thus places us on a new and very promising development path.”
