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Serious Problems with Qobuz

About six weeks ago I started having trouble with Qobuz. Many recordings that are available to stream suddenly appeared as "Unavailable" in Roon and as "Sample" in Qobuz own app (in this last case, you can stream only about a minute of each track and nothing more). I contacted Qobuz on several occasions and they emailed me saying that it is a "rights" problem. The labels affected are Chandos, BIS, Naxos, Capriccio, and CPO, and not all of the recordings are affected but mainly high resolution ones, and featuring certain composers, orchestras, conductors and performers. According to Qobuz, Naxos is the culprit as it owns all of those labels. Qobuz mentioned that the "are working with the labels to solve the problem", but up to now nothing has happened and the list of unavailable recordings is growing. In fact, some labels, like BIS and Chandos, have told some customers that have contacted them about this problem, that they are not the ones doing this.

Interestingly, this is not affecting the same recordings in Tidal, which are only available in CD resolution (44.1/16). This raises the question, at least for me, how viable is Qobuz when the recordings I want to listen to are being made unavailable. Mind you, recordings that were available before and which I listened to and marked as "favorites". Customers are paying for this service, which is not cheap, and it seems that Qobuz is reneging on the recordings it made available when one signs on.

I asked some very well known reviewers, some who had featured Qobuz reviews and interviews with the company's CEO, but none answered, and one is "sponsored" by Qobuz.

Qobuz has to answer to its customers and be forthcoming about the real problem and let us know if this problem can be solved or not. If not, they will be losing a lot of customers to others. A very bad way to run a business.
brucknermahler

Showing 8 responses by brucknermahler

brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
I think somebody here needs to take some lessons on a way to carry on a dialogue. I do not came here to Audiogon to be called a "whiner". I am ENTITLED to say what I have been exposing because I am a paying customer and have the right to express my dissatisfaction with a service provider or any business that does not behave well with its customers. Protesting a bad treatment from a business is not whining. It is a right that every paying customer has.
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
"Matter of perspective" is not. First, I signed with Qobuz, as well as Tidal, because I wanted to stream the music I like. When I signed, all those recordings that are now missing were available, thus, this was one of the main reasons to join. Qobuz made the offer of giving me that music in order to have me sign to their service. Second, I joined because I want to stream music I like, not to buy and download. If I want to buy, I can do it in other sites and many times at a lower price. In addition, if you want to buy music from Qobuz you don't have to sign for their streaming service. Third, yes there are more persons mad at this state of affairs. You can check it in the Roon community web site. Some of those persons have contacted the labels directly. One contacted the CEO of BIS and this person told him that they were not doing this, nor had they asked Qobuz to do it.

It is interesting that some people accuse others of "blowing things out of proportion" when the conditions do not affect them, or when it suits them. As a paying customer I have the right to voice my concerns. And if the firm in question does not answer clearly, I have the right to bring those concerns to others that may be facing the same conditions.

As I mentioned in my original post, six weeks ago Qobuz promised to correct the matter. Different Qobuz personnel have given different versions. And if the rights argument is true, then Qobuz should have issued a notice to all its customers about this condition as soon as they knew it. Not to keep silent about it and wait until customers start complaining. Thus, yes this is a serious problem because it could mean that all those recordings will not be available anymore from Qobuz if they do not reach an agreement.
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
Ok, whiner. Presume that when you ask for a filet mignon and they serve you chicken you will not protest because it is whining and you are not entitled to what you paid for. Great!
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
edcyn: 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, they are very long. And if you listen to one conducted by Klemperer you can probably get up and when you get back it will have advanced about two or three measures only. But, I do love them.
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
Yes, I tried that. But according to Qobuz France and Qobuz USA, the problem is related to other things. They mentioned “rights”, and some other difficulties. The “rights” thing is strange as Tidal has many of the recordings in question and they stream, albeit only in 44.1/16 and not in higher resolution. It is true that this possibly is affecting only the labels I mentioned and possibly only classical recordings, but I can’t vouchsafe for that. I read from other customers about non classical music. I pay Qobuz on a monthly basis and on the 25th of this month is the renewal. I do not know if I should continue with their service. What really bothers me is that, if it really is related to recording rights, they must have known it fir quite a while. These legal issues do not just spring up unannounced. And if that is really the issue, Qobuz should have notified its customers about the problem. If they would have warned the customers, I would have probably reacted differently. Business, as with our society in general, is based on trust. I have owned a business and I know that I must keep the trust of my customers because once it’s lost it’s gone forever. And being forthcoming with those customers is important. I really feel sad about this because I like Qobuz more than Tidal. Perhaps is just an illusion, files being digital and probably the same, but the sound I get from Qobuz streaming seems better. Again, this could be just an illusion or preconceived notion, but that’s how I perceive it. We will see what develops from now on. I really would like for Qobuz to straighten this problem and if there is a rights problem and they need, if they are forced, to increase their streaming price, I would be willing to pay it, as long as they make available the recordings from those labels.
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
I will post no more regarding this problem until the condition changes, although I have no hope that it will. Thanks you all.
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
First, I do have a very large collection of cd, lp, tape. I still buy them. However, there are many recordings available snd I can’t buy the all, so I rely an streaming services for them.

Second, yes it has been Sebastien the person I have been communicating with. And it was him who told me about the rights issues. There is another person from Qobuz USA who I have been in touch too, but I do not have his name immediately available. And, in addition, I have maintained communication with some members of the Roon community which have  experienced the same problem and have contacted persons from the labels affected, including the CEO of BIS recordings. And these persons mentioned that they had not changed thei availability of those recordings. The only culprit, it seems up to now if the rights issue is real, is Naxos, who owns all those labels. But, at this moment this is only a speculation based on Qobuz information.
brucknermahler OP
11 posts
 
The problem is with Qobuz because Tidal is not facing the same problem. I do not understand why so much interest in defending Qobuz and not their clients.

Why do I sense there may be Qobuz employees lurking here to protect the firm and attack anybody that says anything contrary to their firm or jobs? 

Regarding the labels in question, Chandos, BIS, CPO, Naxos, try recordings by Hickox in Chandos as an example, most BIS.
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