Gustav Söderström, the co-president of Spotify, has reportedly teased Spotify HiFi. According to The Verge, the platform is still working on its lossless audio tier.
However, you should not expect it to release anytime soon. In a recent interview, the co-president said, “we are going to do it,” and the HiFi tier will come “at some point.” Yes, the co-president did not spill the beans regarding when the tier is coming.
But at least it is confirmed that the company is still working on it. Looking back, the Spotify HiFi tier was first announced back in February 2021.
During the initial announcement, the music streaming platform stated that it had plans to release it at the end of 2021. But, as you know, things did not go as planned.
While Spotify HiFi was still in the developmental stage, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and others went ahead.
And the significant blowback to Spotify was that the Apple Music and Amazon Music HiFi features came without any additional cost. That is something Spotify did not see coming. So, are there any changes in the HiFi plan now?
Well, Spotify plans to launch the HiFi tier and “do it in a way where it makes sense for us (Spotify) and for our listeners (Spotify users).”
Söderström also mentioned some challenges the platform wants to overcome before the HiFi tier is out in the wild.
Other than just working on the way to deliver the best lossless CD-quality audio, Spotify wants to see how can the HiFi tier work for the company “from a cost perspective as well.”
The publication reported that Spotify HiFi is currently ready to go. To be exact, it has been ready for over a year. This suggests that some of the Spotify employees already have access to the feature.
So, currently, Spotify is basically looking for better ways to deliver the offering within a more expensive tier.
Of course, a higher-priced plan would not make sense when users can get the same CD quality from other competitors without paying extra.
For that reason, Spotify HiFi needs to have something appealing. The tier might include additional benefits, such as Dolby Atmos Music support, library features, and premium podcasts.
These perks could make some users satisfied with the upper bracket subscription fee. However, if the premium tier doubles the monthly fee of the current standard package, only a few would go for it.
Still, nothing is confirmed. We need to do some waiting to see what Spotify does to its HiFi tier.
Slava is a man of mystery and no-one seems to know exactly where he is at any point in time. When he isn't enjoying writing about all things audio and technical he can be found researching his next project of interest. The man never rests.