- Qobuz collaboration with music magazine Drowned in Sound means six months of podcasts
- The move comes after further backlash against Spotify’s practices and payment to artists.
- The partnership will run through June 2026 and begins with the best of 2025.
Have you noticed the growing trend of anti-Spotify coverage lately regarding its payment models, music suggestions, and social media investments? If so, you’ve almost certainly been nudged toward Qobuz, the original high-resolution streaming and downloading platform for the discerning music lover who knows what they want (without the help of an AI DJ, thank you) and wants it in high resolution.
And now, the French music streaming service has announced a six-month partnership with drowned in soundthe slightly caustic independent music publication, podcast and online community.
What to expect? TO drowned in sound (DiS) podcast season running from December 2025 to June 2026, with Qobuz as title sponsor of the podcast and weekly companion playlists curated by DiS on Qobuz.
Qobuz and DiS tell us things are kicking off at DiS with their Best of 2025 coverage, predictions for 2026, plus exclusive interviews with electronic music giant Kelly Lee Owens, as well as one of the most exciting and innovative new artists in the world right now, Sofia Isella.
Qobuz and DiS: for me, a perfect match in music heaven
The partnership brings together two independent organizations that, in my opinion, seem fully committed to the values of the artist and human healing in music.
Qobuz, which has always overlooked AI-created playlists and Wrapped-style releases (pointing instead to its support for high-resolution formats including DSD, organizing your music by record labels as a means to help you discover new artists, and its community forum Qobuz Club, where real humans can talk about music), announced in March this year how much it pays artists per stream.
Qobuz is one of the best music streaming services for music fans who like to go their own way (and don’t mind Wrapped-style posters on their Instagram Stories), because it pays artists an average of $0.01873 per stream, which the company says is “four times the industry average.” So if you really want to support the bands and artists you love in this difficult financial climate, that could be a pretty big change, right?
drowned in sound It was founded in the United Kingdom in 2000 and has also evolved with the times. What began as a music magazine, record label and online forum has matured into what founder Sean Adams calls a “community organizing infrastructure,” balancing music discovery, recommendations and investigative journalism to help music fans understand and use their collective power.
Dan Mackta, CEO of Qobuz, said of the collaboration: “Having been a reader and fan of DiS since the early days of the music blogosphere, I couldn’t be happier that Qobuz can contribute to its continued evolution and growth. Music people recognize this: we take this seriously!”
“This cooperation aligns with everything DiS stands for,” Adams added. “Qobuz pays artists four times more than other platforms, values human curation, and is independently owned… This comes at a time when grassroots media is struggling and reinforces our mission to empower music fans, recommend great music, and create solutions-based journalism that generates actionable resources.”
You can listen to the Drowned in Sound podcast now, but I can’t wait to listen to future episodes.
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