At CAF 2023, one of the largest distributors in high-end audio remarked to me that Lenbrook’s recent acquisition of MQA was raising a lot of eyebrows.
The growing consensus amongst those in the industry who offer TIDAL integration, MQA, and even BluOS as part of the offerings was that Lenbrook was either going to launch a new hi-res streaming service that utilizes MQA, or that they were going to spin it off as a side business that would involve the licensing of MQA, BluOS, and SCL6.
It would appear that both of those options may be true with the creation of Lenbrook Media Group.
Would it make sense for Lenbrook Media Group to launch its own hi-res streaming platform that would compete directly with TIDAL, Qobuz, Deezer, and Amazon Music HD?
What could it really offer that consumers don’t already have access to?
When you consider that Lenbrook already owns NAD, Bluesound, PSB, and distributes DALI in North America — there is already a sizeable base of global customers already using BluOS and MQA (if they subscribe to TIDAL).
But is it big enough to make it profitable?
DALI’s wireless loudspeakers and Cyrus Audio’s streamers use BluOS and there are clearly more licensing opportunities for the newly formed Lenbrook Media Group to go after.
The latest BluOS update to the app continues to show MQA content when available, with no changes to the way it prioritizes any particular format – Lenbrook wants the end user to choose which version/format they wish to listen in.
For TIDAL Connect, it works a bit differently in that it applies TIDAL’s policy on formats and BluOS simply allows casting from the app to devices in that scenario.
So what exactly is going on here?
The new entity will more effectively enable the commercialization and development of Lenbrook’s content management solutions, as well as pursue new opportunities that fit Lenbrook’s vision to offer increased choice to music fans and enthusiasts for quality audio.
With the BluOS content management platform at its core, this group will also oversee the growth of content encoding solutions MQA and SCL6 (previously known as MQair) which Lenbrook acquired in the autumn of 2023.
“The acquisition of MQA’s assets complemented our existing BluOS platform and supports creators in the recording studio with capturing and delivering directly and in the highest quality, their art into the homes of music lovers. Creating the Lenbrook Media Group allows us to fully capitalize on this unique position by giving it focus, and putting the right strategies, structure, and resources in place,” explains Gordon Simmonds, President and CEO of The Lenbrook Group of Companies.
Lenbrook Media Group will be led by newly-appointed Vice-President and General Manager, Mike Jbara, the former MQA CEO and Warner Music executive.
“We worked closely with Mike when he led MQA and were impressed by his understanding of the complete content chain from creation through playback,” Simmonds adds.
“His excellent people skills, his deep understanding of the music industry and his knowledge of music technology and licensing-oriented business activities, makes the leadership role at Lenbrook Media Group a perfect fit for both parties.”
Jbara says, “Once you combine Lenbrook’s vision for advancing choice and innovation in the performance audio industry with the assembly of some of the best minds in audio hardware and software engineering, it results in substantive opportunity to empower creators, distributors, fans, and broadcasters in addition to hardware manufacturers. It is an exciting list of possibilities that we believe will benefit both the music and the specialty audio industries.”
Did Lenbrook create this new entity to make the hardware side of their business more profitable by removing MQA, SCL6, and BluOS development from its costs?
One of the advantages of BluOS is that it offers access to so many music streaming platforms and will that entice other hardware manufacturers to adopt it going forward rather than develop their own?
For more information: lenbrook.com
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ORT
January 5, 2024 at 3:48 am
A lie by any other name is naught but poorly typed (f)Ad Copy. That describes MQA from its conception. Yes, the creator of MQA gave the world a stillborn turd?!
Peter Griffin was correct-o-mundo!
That’s odd, I thought it would be big news. There seems to be an absence of a certain scatomusicalifragilisticalogical piece. A head line regarding the Ass awareness of a certain Pink Flamingo’s singing anus variety. Have you not heard? It was my understanding that everyone had heard. Oh..there it is
A well a don’t you know about the turd?
Well, everybody knows that the turd is the word!
A well a turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
[Chorus]
A well a everybody’s heard about the turd
Turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
A well a turd, turd, turd, t-turd’s the word
It is difficult to understand how some people can just love turds but that seems to be but one of the maladies that strikes frAudiophiles.
MQA. Green Marker Pens. Strategically placed M&Ms, ad nauseam ad infinitum.
Music the way the farteest intended you to hear it. Easy. Buy a hard copy of the recording and listen to it in your home. Buy a ticket to a live performance. MQA is not a natural part of any music. It is the crappy product of a greedy group of humanoids. It is STOOOOPID.
ORTson Welles
Steve H
January 6, 2024 at 7:45 pm
Lynbrook is reorganizing their business activities to reflect that they have separate hardware divisions and a software division based on BluOS, MQA and Scl6. This makes sense to categorize these activities separately. I doubt the hardware teams wanted the development and operating costs of BluOS in their financial reporting. Adding MQA Ltd staff they brought over brought over as part of the deal to acquire MQA and SL6 assets would not fit well into their hardware divisions.
The number of people who can decode an MQA file was probably never over 300,000 and is now less because Roon no longer automatically decodes MQA files and Tidal is switching to FLAC.
Tidal has laid off 40 people and according to a Resident Advisor source the company is making a clear shift from “being music-centric to product-centric–pushing tech initiatives instead of anything related to music, labels, distributors or artists.” How good this source is unknown, but this would make sense considering Tidal has had virtually no growth since 2020. Tidal will need to show $54 million of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 or they will show a loss of revenue from the prior year.
What doesn’t make sense to me is for Lynbrook to create a streaming service with MQA. High-resolution streaming has not shown that it can attract enough customers to make it worthwhile with Tidal’s numbers, Qobuz’s small numbers and no one talking about how successful high-resolution streaming was at either Apple or Amazon. You must consider that the market may be saturated and there is no room for more growth.
What looked like a relatively risk free acquisition of MQA and SCL 6 now looks a lot riskier.
ORT
January 7, 2024 at 1:58 am
All manufacturers crave but one thing and that being your business. Why? Because earning that also means they have earned your trust and trust, like love is a two way street.
Alas that in the real world we all live in, trust is often a one way avenue. All the same, be certain to look both ways before you cross because sometimes companies are like people. They take a wrong turn and go against traffic.
This does not mean they didn’t mean well but neither does it mean they aren’t aware of what they are doing.
And in truth, so do we all.
D’ORTagnan
Ian White
January 7, 2024 at 9:44 pm
ORT,
100% true and I will tell you that the people at Lenbrook are a rather conservative and down the line group of people. They do not make decisions quickly and have never been known to jump first.
NAD, is one of the most conservative brands on the planet. Not driven by ego or rash business decisions. They take their time developing products and are very tight with their R&D funds. They care about sound quality, solid engineering, and value. Not gimmicks.
The MQA thing took me by surprise.
Ian
ORT
January 7, 2024 at 2:41 am
And because I was watching “Samson and Delilah” (with Hedley Lamarr!) I thought of the following wise words:
“My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention.”
To which I add these. And yup. They are mine.
“Those who claim there is no soul are the first to sell theirs.”
This happens to people their companies. Nothing is mutually exclusive. I loathe MQA. Enough ramblin’.
D’ORTagnan
Can I get a kinda-sorta ibid?
Ian White
January 7, 2024 at 2:23 pm
ORT,
I feel like MQA will be gone sooner rather than later.
IW
ORT
January 7, 2024 at 3:40 pm
I hope you are correct, Ian. It is as if Lenbrook wound up with MQA as bogus-bonus to buying the rest of the stuff. That they continue to spout silly fAd Copy about it is weird in the same way a lizard’s tail continues to twitch when separated from its body.
“Pay no attention to that twitching tail in front of the curtain”…
ORT