Back in January we published a piece on the corporate monster that is Spotify and its revenue stealing practices, suggesting it was time to make a stand and deny them their market dominance. Since then, there have been many others saying the same. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has also poured petrol on the flames and enraged many more with his recent Twitter (formerly known as X, or is it the other way round?) post, where he more or less said he felt most of the music uploaded to Spotify (and from which they make billons) costs nothing to produce and has no lasting worth. However, given the huge convenience of streaming, the ability to discover a vast range of new music that it would literally cost you a fortune to buy on vinyl or CD and require a warehouse in your back garden to store, and to be able to access that library of sound wherever you happen to be in the world, it was clear that streaming isn’t going away (and shouldn’t), so what are the alternatives to Spotify? One of those who has joined this debate is author and former editor of Jamming!, Tony Fletcher, who posted on his Substack blog (which is well worth subscribing to btw) an article announcing he was leaving Spotify, followed with another on a worthy successor to Spotify. What follows (with permission) is an edited version of that article.
“Let me be clear, and despite the occasional comment from those who resist them, there is no going back from streaming platforms; even as I blanche at what streaming does to musicians’ incomes, I appreciate the benefits I can get from access to so much music at such relatively little cost, and would therefore like to have a subscription service I can believe in.
But is there one? I was never going to swap out Spotify for Apple, not at this stage of the game, nor am I going to give Jeff Bezos a single penny I don’t have to, so Amazon was off the table too. YouTube Music is similarly not for me, for a whole number of reasons – not least that, like these other major options, it’s too effing major; there’s no point complaining about one rapacious capitalist monster only to just swap it for another.
Deezer offers many of the same bells-and-whistles as Spotify, and apparently some additional ones like videos and song-identification, but although it is clearly established in the international market, nobody I know enthuses about the French-owned company, and word-of-mouth – or sometimes the lack of it – is important in a decision like this.
Whilst Bandcamp, Mixcloud and Soundcloud all have their benefits for both the discovery, and dissemination, of new, independent, and artist-driven music (Bandcamp especially), none of them qualify as being the sort of subscription-based streaming platforms with deep major label catalogues that is needed to replace Spotify
Tidal is a name that also crops up, but it comes at a premium cost, and it was hard to see what you get for that premium. Jay-Z was involved, and it was said to be artist-friendly/owned as a result, with so-called exclusives, but it is little more than an inferior Spotify imitation, especially as it has branched into podcasts and videos, and its semi-proprietary partnership with the company MQA was exposed as an audio sham. It wasn’t just your everyday user who felt cheated either. Neil Young pulled his catalogue in disgust, describing the sound as “a degradation of the original” and recommended Qobuz as one of just two platforms (the other being Amazon HD) where “the real music – exactly as made by the artists and producers – is played.” Who, what, where? you might well ask, and I wouldn’t blame you if you did. For a while there, Qobuz was just another of the oddly named optional additional platforms alongside Anghami, Boomplay/Ayoba, Jaxxter, Peloton, Resso and more, most of which are international streaming platforms. Qobuz is also surely the only streaming platform named after a traditional musical instrument, the Central Asian horsehair-stringed ‘Kobyz’ from what is now Kazakhstan, which should tell you something.
A korbyz:
Launched way back in 2008, the same year as Spotify, with a stated intent “to offer the digital world the aspects of music fandom that audiophiles, those who love music best, have always cherished,” Qobuz has stayed in the mainstreaming margins throughout its 15-year run, quietly developing a reputation as leading contender for those who desire hi-res audio from a music streaming service. Let’s discuss the audio quality. While it may not be your number 1 priority, it’s important to know what you are listening to and what options you have. Quick recap: CDs – the benchmark for sound quality for decades now – are rendered out at 16-bit/44.1 kHz; consider that the current ground floor. Qobuz offers all its music at that ground floor professional level, and additionally allows you to take an elevator up to the penthouse and executive suites by offering sound quality at 24-bit up to 96 kHZ, and 24-bit up to 192 kHz, assuming they have been supplied with such files (and as almost most new songs will meet at least the 24/44.1 standard).
Qobuz also offers (via its magazine provided as part of the App) curated recommendations across multiple genres, all written by actual human music fans who double as professional journalists. Many of the albums I called up also feature Qobuz-unique reviews. Special playlists are produced, promoted, and annotated almost daily. Qobuz has already turned me on to the K-punk trio Sailor Honeymoon, who, to quote the May 2024 Qobuz magazine article, feature “layer fuzzed-out guitars with art school cool for their self-titled debut EP.” If you too would like some off-kilter music amidst the mainstream, there will be plenty of it recommended on Qobuz.
An additional major draw for Qobuz, though it is not the reason I signed up, is the ability to purchase audio files in any range of quality. Some people do enjoy owning their music outright, and would as soon purchase it from a music-friendly platform as from a record shop. For them, the premium ‘Sublime’ subscription offers up to 60% discount for around 40% more per month which, if they’re purchasing more than a couple of albums a month, will almost certainly bring them out ahead, plus the rights-holders get 70% of the purchase fee.
Qobuz’s regular subscription fees – for single, duo, or a six-person family plan - are in line with the other major platforms, and it claims to host over 100,000,000 titles. It turned out that the vast majority of what I had on Spotify is also available on Qobuz and the ability to compile and curate such playlists is every bit as easy on Qobuz as on Spotify, along with the ‘listen offline’ and ‘favourites’ options and the platform overall feels clean, streamlined, and uncomplicated.
What Qobuz doesn’t offer is just as important as what it does. For example, there are zero plans in place at Qobuz to incorporate podcasts. Nor does Qobuz distract users with video clips (other than those video interviews on its magazine, something that may make it unique) or even accompanying lyrics. Audiobooks don’t even come into the discussion. This is a service dedicated purely to the high-quality streaming and sale of recorded music. Qobuz is, however, a mere minnow amongst whales, with only eight employees in the USA, and just eighty globally. In comparison, Spotify has 1500 employees in the US alone. Qobuz, clearly, is small, but that’s relative in the streaming world, the company claiming around 1,000,000 users in the USA (not to be read as 1,000,000 subscribers), and its relatively concise business history comes as a relief in comparison to the historical controversies and multiple side-hustles surrounding Tidal and Spotify. Qobuz is on track to break even in two years, and it only needs 1% of the streaming market to become wildly profitable. Getting to that 1% is nonetheless a slow process, especially when up against those whales that some would consider sharks in disguise.
I’d certainly encourage you to give Qobuz a try. Its tech side is not perfect, but nor is that of any music streaming service, most certainly including Spotify, which revealed its multiple sluggish and bully-ish aspects over time. Besides, most of the music I love is full of imperfections. All I ever ask for is authenticity, and for now, with its dedication to the discovery of music, to high-quality audio for those who desire it, the ability to purchase music for keeps, for its depth of catalogue, its editorial content especially, its clean and attractive visuals, and its focus on giving artists their due credit, that’s what I am getting. Additionally, I appreciate that it lacks the controversies and penny-pinching history of its rivals, that it values musicians for their art and practice, puts emphasis on the credits behind the music, and that it appears to be living up to its lofty mission statement. “
Whilst Outsideleft has no commercial affiliations, nor gets any kickbacks from recommending any single company, Qobuz does seem to have the edge and Tony certainly knows what he is talking about, so if you do fancy giving the finger to Spotify, like so many others, rest assured, there are some viable alternatives out there.
Essential Information:
You can read more articles like this by subscribing to Tony Fletcher’s Substack blog here.
Tony is also a member of The Dear Boys, who you can find on Bandcamp here.
