Qobuz: The Anti-Spotify Music Streamer Gains Momentum with Higher Artist Payouts
French hi-res audio platform Qobuz doubled its subscriber base in 2025 to 1.2 million, driven by backlash against Spotify and its higher per-stream payouts, while maintaining a no-ads, music-only experience.
Qobuz, a French music streaming service focused on lossless CD-quality and 24-bit audio, has seen a surge in popularity. Founded in 2007, it had around 500,000 subscribers a year ago, but now boasts 1.2 million monthly active users. The growth spiked after Liz Pelly's book 'Mood Machine' criticized Spotify's practices and after viral social media posts about Spotify's ad-targeting. Qobuz's streaming revenue jumped 45.7% in 2025, compared to just 8.8% growth for the overall paid streaming market.
The service pays artists significantly more than competitors: an average of $0.01873 per stream ($18.73 per 1,000 streams), verified by an independent auditor. This is three to six times higher than Spotify's estimated $0.003–$0.005 per stream. Qobuz has no free tier, no ads, and no podcasts or video—only music and editorial content. It also bans fully AI-generated music through its AI Charter, using a machine-learning algorithm to detect such tracks. The company reports that up to 40% of submitted tracks may be AI-generated, which it actively removes.
Qobuz has 100 full-time employees and 30 contractors, all shareholders. It offers a community forum (Qobuz Club) and is adding features like synced lyrics and a revamped player. While still tiny compared to Spotify (293 million paid subscribers) and Apple Music, Qobuz aims for 1% of the paid streaming market and expects profitability by March 2027. The US is its largest market, generating about a third of revenue.
