Qobuz
Verified“French-owned to the core, US-cloud at the back.”
- Ownership
- Private, founder-controlled
- Markets
- 26 countries
- Scale
- 1.2M+ monthly active users
- Revenue
- ~€25.1M (2022)
69 = midpoint of Control 89 & Data 49
Sovereignty Quadrant
Control ↑ who owns & governs the company · Data → where your data lives. Every dot is a company — click to open it.
Every number below traces to 13 sourced facts across 7 independent sources, last verified 2026-06-12. 4 open questions hold confidence at 78% — they lower confidence, never the score.
Control ↑
Who legally and economically controls the company
Legal & Jurisdiction
90
Operated by a French SA registered with RCS Bobigny, run from France, no foreign parent — EU law reaches the operating entity directly with full enforceability.
Why 90? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Qobuz is published by XANDRIE SA, a French société anonyme registered in Pantin, France with RCS Bobigny number 749 983 029.
Qobuz legal mentions · as of 2026-06-12
Xandrie SA is registered at Centre d'activités de l'Ourcq, 45 rue Delizy, 93692 Pantin CEDEX, France, with creation date 20 February 2012.
Pappers (French registry data) · as of 2026-06-12
The Paris Commercial Court ruled in December 2015 that Xandrie would take over the assets of Qobuz, consolidating it as a French-incorporated operation.
Music Ally / Musically · as of 2016-01-18
Control & Ownership
87
Privately held and controlled by its French founder via his holding company Nabuboto; no listing and EU economic majority, with only a minority non-EU (Quebecor) co-investor.
Why 87? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Xandrie/Qobuz is controlled by founder Denis Thébaud through his holding company Nabuboto, part of the Thébaud group.
Music Business Worldwide · as of 2021-10-05
Nabuboto (SIREN 478 129 166) appears as the principal shareholder of Xandrie SA in French corporate records.
Pappers (French registry data) · as of 2026-06-12
Qobuz raised funds in 2019 from Nabuboto and Canada's Quebecor Group, introducing a minority non-EU co-investor while founder control was retained.
Wikipedia (Qobuz) · as of 2025
Qobuz is privately held with no stock-exchange listing identified in registry or company sources.
Wikipedia (Qobuz) · as of 2025
Data →
Where your data lives and who can reach it
Data & Infrastructure
25
Qobuz's own legal notice names AWS (Seattle) as host and its catalogue migrated to AWS; the privacy policy admits data may leave the EU under SCCs, so it runs on a US hyperscaler with CLOUD Act exposure and no published EU-only residency.
Why 25? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Qobuz's legal mentions name AMAZON WEB SERVICE, INC (P.O. Box 81226, Seattle, WA 98108-1226) as the website hosting provider.
Qobuz legal mentions · as of 2026-06-12
Qobuz announced it had completed migration of its streaming and download catalogues to Amazon's cloud, with servers placed closer to served countries.
Qobuz Community news · as of 2016-04-22
Qobuz's privacy policy states data it collects may be transmitted outside the EU, using a hosting service provider located outside the EU and EU standard contractual clauses to regulate the flow.
Qobuz privacy policy · as of 2026-06-12
Operations & People
85
Headquartered in Pantin (Paris), French leadership and workforce, euro-denominated — operations are decisively EU-centered despite the US now being the largest subscriber market.
Why 85? 3 sourced facts · click to expand
Qobuz is headquartered in the Paris area (Pantin) with a French workforce; Xandrie reported roughly 50–99 employees in registry data and 106 employees per a mid-2024 figure.
Pappers (French registry data) · as of 2026-06-12
Qobuz leadership is French: Denis Thébaud is President and CEO of Xandrie and Georges Fornay serves as Deputy CEO of Qobuz.
Pappers (French registry data) · as of 2026-06-12
Xandrie reports financials in euros, with 2022 revenue of about €25.1 million and a net loss of €5.68 million.
Pappers (French registry data) · as of 2022
Aligned to the EU Commission’s official Cloud Sovereignty Framework (SEAL, Jun 2026) →
What we don’t know
4 open questions — they lower confidence, never the score
- ?
Which AWS region(s) actually store EU user data — is any of it pinned to EU (Paris/Frankfurt/Ireland) regions, or does it sit in or replicate to US regions?
Determines real-world CLOUD Act / extra-EU transfer exposure; could move the infra score up modestly if EU-pinned or confirm the low score if US regions are used.
- ?
Exact current paid-subscriber count and the precise EU-vs-US split of the subscriber base.
Affects how 'European' the user/data footprint is in practice; the US is reported as the top market, which matters for where the bulk of personal data is processed.
- ?
Whether Quebecor (Canada) retains any equity stake and its size after the 2019/2020 rounds.
A material non-EU minority would slightly soften the ownership score; current cap-table detail is not public.
- ?
Whether Qobuz uses any non-AWS subprocessors (CDN, analytics, payments) based outside the EU.
Additional foreign-law exposure beyond AWS could further lower the effective infra/data sovereignty.
EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework lens
The EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework (EUCS/SEAL) targets cloud service providers, not music-streaming apps — these category rows are an analogous mapping for comparison, not a certification Qobuz holds or has applied for.
Strategic
Independent French company with no foreign parent; positions itself as the European high-resolution streaming champion.
Legal & jurisdictional
French SA, incorporated and operated in France; fully within EU/GDPR enforcement reach.
Data & AI
Privacy policy admits data may be transferred outside the EU under SCCs; host is AWS Inc. (US), creating CLOUD Act exposure and no published EU-only residency.
Operational
HQ in Pantin, French leadership and workforce, euro-denominated reporting; operationally EU-centered.
Supply chain
Core hosting depends on a single US hyperscaler (AWS); other subprocessors are not publicly enumerated.
Technological
Streaming and download infrastructure migrated to Amazon's cloud rather than an EU-owned provider, creating technological dependence on a US platform.
Security & compliance
Operates under GDPR with SCCs for transfers; no published independent sovereignty/security certification (e.g. SecNumCloud) found.
Environmental sustainability
No specific energy/sustainability disclosures for Qobuz infrastructure were located in available sources.
EU alternatives
Already the strongest EU-owned, EU-operated music-streaming option; main caveat is that hosting runs on US-based AWS rather than EU-owned cloud.
French-founded and Paris-HQ'd, but publicly listed (Euronext Paris via SPAC) with significant non-EU shareholders and US-cloud reliance — broader catalogue, weaker private-control story than Qobuz.
Swedish-founded and EU-incorporated but US-listed (NYSE) with US economic majority and Google Cloud infrastructure — EU-controlled company, US-dependent machine, not a clean EU alternative.
How the method works
Methodology v2 (provisional): the score is the midpoint of two axes — Control (who owns and governs the company) and Data (where your data lives and who can reach it). Each axis is scored only on verified evidence; unknowns reduce confidence, never the score. Every input below is sourced; the weights and judgments are open to challenge.
Spotted an error? Every claim is sourced — challenge it and we correct the record.
- 2026-06-12 — Initial golden profile, authored from primary sources (human + AI review).
Report Incorrect Data
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Verified 2026-06-12 · Human + AI joint review (sources independently checked) · Methodology