LOS ANGELES — When folk-rock musician Neil Young chose to cut ties with Spotify over concerns about misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast, he created opportunities for smaller rival music streaming services.
Among them is the Qobuz, a boutique Paris-based streaming service that touts high-quality sound and is named after after the kobyz, an instrument used in rituals to dispel evil spirits.
Qobuz — which has hundreds of thousands of subscribers compared to Spotify’s massive audience of at least 380 million — began seeing a surge of new users. Thousands of people — at least double what’s typical during this time of year — signed up after Young encouraged his fans to listen to his music on the app, among other platforms, said Dan Mackta, managing director for Qobuz USA.
