Quincy Jones Announces New Jazz-Inspired Video-On-Demand Platform, ‘Qwest TV’
Multi-Grammy winning producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones, in collaboration with jazz impresario and television producer Reza Ackbaraly, has announced the formation of Qwest TV. The world’s first subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform, it will be dedicated to jazz and jazz-inspired music forms.
Debuting in the fall of 2017, subscribers to Qwest TV will choose when and where to watch a personalized, hand-picked selection of exclusive, original content including concerts, documentaries, interviews and archival footage on their mobile devices and computers in HD or 4K for a monthly fee.
Pre-launch subscriptions to Qwest TV will be available starting September 6 via Kickstarter. The first 1,500 “co-founding subscribers” will have the privilege of helping develop Qwest TV before the roll out of the service in the fall of 2017. Co-founding subscribers will receive a full year of Qwest TV Premium, VIP access to the Qwest TV team for sharing feedback and feature requests, and other special benefits available only during the pre-launch campaign on Kickstarter. These benefits include collectible t-shirts, posters, headphones, concert tickets, and gold, platinum and vinyl records signed by Quincy Jones himself.
“The dream of Qwest TV is to let jazz and music lovers everywhere experience these incredibly rich and diverse musical traditions in a whole new way,” said Quincy Jones in a press release.
“At my core, I am a be-bopper, and over the course of my seventy-year career in music I have witnessed first-hand the power of jazz – and all of its off-spring from the blues and R&B to pop, rock and hip-hop, to tear down walls and bring the world together. I believe that a hundred years from now, when people look back at the 20th century, they will view Bird (Charlie Parker), Miles (Davis) and Dizzy (Gillespie) as our Mozarts, Bachs, Chopins and Tchaikovskys. It is my hope that Qwest TV will serve to carry forth and build on the great legacy that is jazz for many generations to come.”
Commented Qwest TV co-founder Reza Ackbaraly: “By bringing Qwest TV to the general public and to universities everywhere, we seek to promote the values inherent to jazz: hard work, diversity, openness towards others, mutual respect and consideration, cooperation, and improvisation. Jazz touches people across all national, social and cultural boundaries. Qwest TV is of course about extending that reach, but it is also about bringing exciting music from around the world back to jazz and music lovers who have yet to discover it. Quincy and I plan to build a community where the love goes both ways.”
Qwest TV aims to align the booming subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market with the increasing popularity of jazz, highlighting its influence on other types of music from hip-hop to electro, and bringing to light its major role in the evolution of society. Supported by its international network of artists, producers, and venues, Qwest TV has already secured international rights to over 400 titles and plans to acquire an additional 600 titles within its first three years.
Branding Jones & Ackbaraly’s new SVOD platform Qwest TV is no coincidence. Throughout the 1990’s, Jones served as the guiding force behind his own Qwest Records, which boasted artists such as New Order, Tevin Campbell, Andre Crouch, Patti Austin, James Ingram, Siedah Garrett, Frank Sinatra and George Benson.
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