Stingray Buys Qello Concerts. Now No. 1 SVOD Supplier

By David Farrell

What: Stingray is now the leading distributor of Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) concerts in the world. Adds 2,000 concerts and music documentaries to its library and grows its SVOD subscriber base by more than 70,000. With 400 million subscribers, the Montreal firm has more than five times Spotify's reach into households and businesses worldwide.

Montreal: Stingray continues to grow through acquisitions by acquiring Qello Concerts, a New York-based company that specialises in offering on-demand concerts and music documentaries.

In a press release, the Montreal-based multi-platform music services provider said the deal, the amount of which is not disclosed, would enable it to become the largest distributor of subscription-based video-on-demand concerts in the world.

According to the press release, Qello Concerts (pronounced Kwello) has an impressive catalogue of filmed shows, including performances by Queen, Pink Floyd, The Doors, David Bowie, The Police, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Bob Marley and Celine Dion, and a valuable collection of musical documentaries.

"The acquisition of Qello Concerts confirms our position as a world leader in VSDA services and marks a logical continuation of the recent launch of Stingray Classica, Stingray DJAZZ and Stingray Karaoke by major international suppliers such as Amazon Channels and Comcast, "said Eric Boyko, president, co-founder and CEO of Stingray.

"This agreement is another way to fulfill our mission: to be the number one consumer destination worldwide for the best music on all platforms and all of their digital devices," he added.

The company, founded in 2010, has more than 70,000 users in 160 countries and its content is currently accessible through Amazon Channels, Apple TV, Roku, Google TV and Samsung Smart TV on electronic devices and online.

Quello is the fifth acquisition for Stingray as part of fiscal year 2018, with the company having recently acquired Yokee Music, C Music Entertainment, SBA Music PTY and Satellite Music Australia PTY.

Seven years after Boyko and Alexandre Taillefer founded the digital music provider, Stingray had acquired 20 other companies and spent over $200M on acquisitions. The company went public on June 3, 2015, on the Toronto Stock Exchange. As of September 2017, it has 11,000 commercial clients and 400 million subscribers across 156 countries.

In 2017 the company saw its revenues top the $100-million mark and announced that it planned to hire an additional 400 people to work in its Montreal head office over the next five years.

Headquartered in Montreal, it maintains offices in the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Israel, Singapore, Australia, Japan and South Korea.

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