Japan Archives

mora qualitas streaming service to close

11/01/2022

mora qualitas streaming service to close on the 29th May 2022 after 3 years of providing a HiRes and CD Quality streaming service in Japan. The service which started in October 2019 is a joint venture between Sony Music and Rhapsody International (now Napster) using their ‘Powered by Napster’ technology. In a statement on their website (translated via Google) they say, “This service started to be provided in October 2019 and we have endeavoured to deliver the best sound quality […]

Qobuz expands into Japan

08/10/2021

Qobuz expands into Japan by acquiring e-onkyo music, a high-resolution music download platform, from Onkyo Corporation, the Japanese high-end electronics manufacturer. The purchase by Xandrie SA, the parent company of Qobuz, represents a new major strategic step forward for Qobuz, which intends to continue its international expansion. It follows the launch of the service last April in the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland), as well as in Australia and New Zealand. Other opening plans […]

Deezer launches Japanese music channel

24/02/2021

Deezer launches Japanese music channel which includes J-pop and City Pop as well as ambient sounds and gaming soundtracks. The dedicated channel brings fans a selection of playlists that capture the sounds and culture of Japan, ranging from J-pop and J-rock to Onsen and meditation. The Japanese Music channel follows a huge boom in streams across a variety of Japanese genres on Deezer. Its Japan Lo-fi & Chill playlist grew an astonishing 705% in November 2020, […]

IDAGIO launches in Japan

18/06/2020

IDAGIO launches in Japan on the 2st June 2020 to coincide with a live video stream of the Vienna Philharmonic’s subscription concert in IDAGIO’s Global Concert Hall. This international expansion will give music lovers in Japan access not only to IDAGIO‘s Global Concert Hall but also to its classical catalogue of over 2 million tracks in CD Quality sound distinguished by superior metadata and a tailor-made search feature for classical, and expert curation. IDAGIO’s Global […]

ARASHI receiving the IFPI award for Top Global Album of 2019

ARASHI awarded Global Album of 2019

19/03/2020

ARASHI awarded Global Album of 2019 by IFPI for their 20th Anniversary Compilation 5×20 All the BEST!! 1999-2019. ARASHI (Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto) was formed in 1999 and released their first single A-RA-SHI in November that year. They went on to release multiple million-seller albums over the next two decades. In June 2019, they released their 20th anniversary compilation 5×20 All the BEST!! 1999-2019 and staged the ARASHI […]

Spotify Premium Duo comes to Canada, France and Japan

04/03/2020

Spotify Premium Duo comes to Canada, France and Japan following on from its initial pilot rollout in 2019 in Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Latin America. Spotify’s Premium Duo subscription plan is two Premium accounts for couples under one roof which offers the functionality to either listen together or separately. The plan in Canada costs CAD $12.99/month with a 1 month free trial and the plan can be cancelled anytime. The only restriction is that a couple must […]

News

MQA brings HiRes audio to HD TV

04/11/2019

MQA brings HiRes audio to HD TV in a world first demo on Japan’s leading premium pay TV broadcaster WOWOW according to a recent MQA blog posting. WOWOW, Japan’s leading premium pay TV broadcaster, is using MQA’s audio technology to showcase HD video playback with the highest quality sound. The first demonstration took place at a press event hosted at WOWOW’s Tokyo offices on 24th October. This will be followed by a full demonstration at Inter BEE trade show […]