Sony Music Entertainment and Rhapsody International have partnered to launch a streaming service in Japan. The platform, called mora qualitas, will offer high-resolution lossless FLAC audio at CD quality. It is built on Rhapsody’s Powered By Napster platform, which provides technology for media streaming, rights management, applications, and royalty calculations. Subscriptions to mora qualitas will cost 1,980 yen (about $17) a month.
This deal is the highest-profile execution of the Powered by Napster B2B service we’re aware of since that platform powered the launch of iHeartRadio All Access, the on-demand audio service. In that case, the formal name of the service was (and probably still is) iHeartRadio All Access powered by Napster.
Back to the Sony Japan project:
“Our partnership with Sony Music Entertainment Japan offers the ultimate experience for audio enthusiasts in Japan as they no longer have to choose between a streaming service and high quality audio. With mora qualitas, fans can now have both for the very first time,” said Brian Ringer, executive vice president and general manager of the Asia Pacific region for Rhapsody. “We are committed to accelerating the growth of streaming on a global scale by helping new services like mora qualitas launch quickly as well as enhancing existing services.”
“There is a lot of momentum happening in streaming and it’s going to keep getting better for consumers and artists with the introduction of mora qualitas, our new global on-demand audio service,” Sony Music Entertainment Japan Senior Vice President Shigeki Tanaka said. “Napster’s deep expertise in high resolution audio streaming and industry experience made them the clear choice to partner with us in launching Japan’s new premier service.”
CD quality isn’t high resolution.