Napster, Pandora, Tidal Among Streaming Companies Planning Hi-Res Audio Offerings
LAS VEGAS -- The Digital Entertainment Group, along with major music companies and industry organizations, announced at CES an expansion of Hi-Res Audio from downloads to “studio-quality” Hi-Res Audio streaming, with Rhapsody, Pandora and HD Tracks throwing support behind the initiative. Until now, Hi-Res Audio recordings, which deliver the same quality as the studio master, could be purchased from only a select number of music download stores. The expansion of Hi-Res Audio into the streaming market underscores the recent rise in subscription music services, said DEG.
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Rhapsody International CEO Mike Davis was the only streaming music service representative to speak at the news conference, saying the company's Napster streaming service will offer Hi-Res streaming in coming months. An accompanying news release said Pandora and HD Tracks “expressed their enthusiasm” for exploring ways to add new premium music offerings to their distribution platforms. Those can include advanced optional features in the future, said DEG.
Davis said Napster believes there’s not a “one-size-fits-all” model for music streaming, and the company wants to meet the needs of a diverse subscriber base. Hi-Res gives subscribers another option to experience music in a personal way “by allowing them to hear songs exactly as artists intended and deepen their connection to the music.” Davis said “studio-quality” sound has been one of the most requested features from Napster subscribers. He didn’t provide pricing or timing details or say whether Rhapsody, too, will offer Hi-Res streaming.
Universal Music Group Chief Technology Officer Ty Roberts was enthusiastic about Hi-Res support from streaming services including Napster and Pandora. He noted Tidal said Wednesday it's going to offer Hi-Res Audio, along with HD Tracks that it has been doing for some time.
Part of the effort to expand the Hi-Res Audio market is a consumer awareness campaign called Stream the Studio, with a focus on educating music fans that they can hear the music the way artists and producers intended for it to be heard. DEG previewed video interviews with recording engineers at the news conference that will be available on the www.streamthestudio.org website when it’s operational.
DEG will put on live events and plans social media-based marketing to reach millennials, Senior Director Marc Finer told us at the Hi-Res Audio Pavilion. The Stream the Studio campaign is designed to align the various marketing messages being used to promote Hi-Res-compatible devices, technologies and music. Finer said CES 2017 is “the first time in the history of CES that all the major music companies, and the indie music labels, and the associations and the CE companies have joined forces on the floor" of the show.
Exhibitors in the Hi-Res Audio Pavilion included Astell&Kern, AudioQuest, Autonomic, Bluesound, dCS, DTS, Elac, Mytek, Onkyo, Samsung, Sony and Westone. The booth featured Hi-Res recordings and was supported by the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), CTA, Japan Audio Society, MQA Ltd. and RIAA.
At DTS, the question of what constitutes Hi-Res audio remains open, Jeff Jury, general manager of the HD Radio and Automotive group, told us at the DTS booth (see 1701060015). The company showed a model of a head unit based on its upcoming Connected Radio platform that will be able to cache Hi-Res music.
The interpretation of Hi-Res varies, Jury said. “We’re looking at what the standards call for Hi-Res and just going with that.” There's "pure Hi-Res, and then there’s a question of what people can actually hear as hi-res. Sometimes there’s a debate,” he said, comparing it to a similar debate about CD-quality, especially in the noisy car environment. “If you’re listening to music in the car, is it CD-quality if it’s coming through a digital stream, or isn’t it?” he said. “There’s different interpretations of that, but what we’re talking now about offering a very high-bitrate, premium Hi-Res solution.”