By Qobuz will be the first to tell you that they had literally no role in having their weekly subscriber base unexpectedly grow 500 percent in just a few days. The people responsible for this sea change in premium HD music subscriptions is due in part tondustry leader Spotify taking ad money from Donald Trump’s ICE (the acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement). ICE is the government agency that is making national raids looking for illegal immigrants in places like Home Depot parking lots and the campus of Harvard University. To say ICE’s bigoted and economically ignorant actions are not popular with today’s youth is to very much understate the matter.
The Social Media Power of Generation Y
The next factor in this gigantic boom in subscribers for Qobuz is the role that politically-minded Gen-Y Americans have. Their ability to use social media to take topics viral is even more powerful than many thought. Gen-Y took to Instagram and, more specifically, TikTok. These young Americans wield the power of the pen (if you will) in ways that no other generation before them has even dreamed of. Cancel culture is alive and well, especially for intolerant people, non-authentic people and outright evil branches of government that are acting as if they answer to a Fuhrer – not equal branches of a rational, respectful democracy.
Will Qobuz Retain All of Its New Subscribers?
Qobuz gets most new subscribers to try their service for a month before they start charging for their nearly unlimited catalog of music from all genres, with much of it offered in HD formats in ways that still blow the minds of those of us who remember failed HD Audio formats like SACD and DVD-Audio. Qobuz delivers more music in HD than either of those failed formats by easily a factor of 10, if not more.
Qobuz tells FutureAudiophile.com that the standard conversion rate for new subscribers on a one-month free trial is 40 percent. Younger people don’t always have as much discretionary income and there are a lot of demands on them for subscription services. That is one side of the argument. The other side is that these young music lovers were already paying for Spotify, so they already have some budget allocated for music streaming, although some just support the anti-Spotify movement and plan to bail when it comes time to buck up. The other factor in QoBuz’s favor is that they have a student rate of $4.99 a month, which is pretty low compared to all of the other TV and/or music streaming services.
November 10, 2025 will be the day when the first of this large batch of users are set to start converting. To say that there are many execs at Qobuz who have their fingers crossed that they retain a good percentage of these new subscribers is the music industry understatement of all time. It won’t be long to see if the “F*CK Spotify” social media movement evolves into significant new revenue will be evident in mere days.
What is the Appeal of Qobuz Over Spotify?
Unless you are a MAGA friendly Gen-Y, the political angle is the main motivation. Younger white people are not scared of people of color. They don’t think the American Dream ends by being detained in (and eventually deported from) a Home Depot parking lot.
Beyond politics, the fact that Qobuz is independently owned and non-political makes them appealing. The aforementioned student pricing makes a month of Qobuz cost less than a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks and a hell of a lot less than the $26 juice that comes from trendy Los Angeles grocery store chain Erewhon, which is a total phenomenon with Millennials, as well as with Generation Y.
Being Artist-Friendly is Important to Gen-Y and Millennials
Many of the pundits who were down on Spotify were in that position long before the company made the divisive move to take ad money from ICE. These industry critics were more concerned with how the streaming service doesn’t meaningfully pay smaller artists when the top 125 artists do well on Spotify. Perhaps the real number of artists making real money on Spotify is much larger, but in comparison, there are millions of lesser-known artists who want to get paid, even if they don’t have the commercial appeal of Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters.
Qobuz is much more artist-friendly, even if they are a less mainstream streaming option for most users. That is appealing to younger music enthusiasts who pay for music (and other) streaming services.
How Will This Movement Turn Out in the End?
It is fair to predict that the conversion rate of these new young subscribers will likely be less than the standard 40 percent. Not many at Qobuz are concerned about a lower level of conversion, as they literally did nothing but be in the right place at the right time, as Spotify made a big, public and political mistake. Smart companies don’t pick sides between MAGA-Trump and more moderate consumers.
Even if the conversion rate for this unexpected movement is half of the normal standard – the idea that a streaming company can attract (and convert) youthful clients is a total, unexpected victory for QoBuz.
For audiophiles, finding new enthusiasts for audio is our hobby’s biggest challenge. It is basically the mission statement of FutureAudiophile.com and we can tell you that getting young people to embrace the concept of high-end audio is tough but not impossible. This highly sought-after audience seeks value and demands authenticity. They don’t really remember and feel about record stores the way Gen-X and Baby Boomers dp. They also don’t have the same access to audiophile gear that these older generations had. How do you learn what is possible in goosebump-inducing musical experiences? Actually hearing what is possible on a good system (hell, even respectable headphones) is a key start. Is a Magnolia store inside a Best Buy good enough an experience? It might be an irrelevant experience, in that these younger enthusiasts buy much more tech and media online than in person.
In the end, Spotify really made a poorly considered decision that was so damaging that it rallied an entire, large and powerful audience who wield tremendous power in aggregate. Other tech companies will learn from Spotify’s mistake and QoBuz’s unexpected windfall. Will this error kill off Spotify? That isn’t happening at all, but it teaches them a lesson to be a more humane and in-tune company. It is very possible that both Qobuz and Spotify will end up reaping unexpected benefits or lessons that will make them more evolved companies in the future.
What do you think about Spotify taking advertising money from ICE? Does politics factor in any way into your decision as to what streaming services you support? What do you think the long-term outcome will be from this movement? Let us know and we will approve your comments ASAP.
