Music technology company MQA and Universal Music Group (UMG), a developer of music-based entertainment, have announced a joint multi-year agreement that will encode UMG’s catalog of master recordings in MQA’s high-performance audio technology format.

The collaboration will make some of the world’s most celebrated recordings available for the first time in high-resolution audio streaming formats.

The announcement comes shortly after the launch of the cross-industry marketing campaign “Stream the Studio,” which began this past January at CES 2017 in Las Vegas and was spearheaded by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), to raise awareness of the advantages of high-resolution audio streaming.

Mike Jbara, CEO of MQA, says the partnership will help to bring some of the world's top artists to consumers without compromising the sound of their music. 

“We’re very pleased to be working with Universal Music to achieve our goal of moving studio-quality sound into the mainstream,” says Jbara. “Universal’s timeless catalogue and impressive artist roster will fuel music streaming services worldwide and enable the premium listening experience for all music fans.”

Michael Nash, executive vice president of digital strategy at UMG, adds the agreement with MQA provides the record label with insurances that its audio performance goals are met through the medium of streaming audio.

“The promise of high-resolution audio streaming is becoming a reality, with one service already in the market and several more committed to launching this year,” says Nash. “With MQA, we are working with a partner whose technology is among the best solutions for streaming Hi-Res Audio, and one that doesn't ask music fans to compromise on sound quality for convenience. We’re looking forward to working with Mike and his team at MQA to make our industry-leading roster of artists and recordings available to music fans in the highest quality possible.”

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