Of all the music streaming providers out there, Spotify is undoubtedly the go-to service for the majority of music lovers. Spotify admits that high-quality streaming is the most requested feature that subscribers want to see from it.
But with 2022 drawing to a close, there’s still no indication that the popular Spotify HiFi-class streaming service will launch anytime soon. This is despite it being originally announced in February 2021, before being indefinitely delayed by the company earlier this year.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We predicted that 2022 would be the year the streaming giant gave its subscribers the option of lossless audio. But as we take stock of this year’s audio profiles, we couldn’t be more clear about why the service has been delayed, or if plans are finally being shelved.
There was a glimmer of hope in October this year, and the suggestion that Spotify HiFi was still on the agenda when a Spotify poll was sent to a Reddit user after Spotify was abandoned for Apple Music. Inside, the survey asked former subscribers if they would consider returning to something called “Spotify Platinum” in the “next 30 days.”
Several months later and still no Spotify Platinum. But the survey did list the benefits this theoretical $19.99 layer would provide, and the list of features includes “HiFi,” “Studio Sound,” “Headphone Tuner,” “Audio Insights,” “Library Pro,” “Playlist Pro,” and “Limited-Spotify Ads.” podcast.”
market forces
Despite the poll refueling the rumor mill that Lossless Audio might still be in the works, Spotify hasn’t made any official announcement about its plans since dashing hopes of an imminent rollout earlier this year. This happened with a comment that appeared in the thread on Spotify community site: “We know HiFi sound quality is important to you. We feel the same, and we’re excited to bring the Spotify HiFi experience to future Premium users. But we don’t have timing details to share yet. We’ll of course update you here when we can.”
There was no official comment on the survey from Spotify either. But if the $19.99 monthly cost seen in the survey is to be believed, it may be too much for the majority of audiophiles, including high-quality audio fanatics. This is especially when you consider that lossless audio is already available for less on other platforms.
Apple Music and Amazon’s Music Unlimited surprised the world by adding lossless audio to their subscription packages at no additional cost (although Apple did raise their prices). Some believe this is why Spotify HiFi has been put on the back burner: if it can’t be a driver of additional revenue, it’s no longer seen as a priority for the company.
In our analysis at the time the survey came out, we felt that Spotify was re-examining whether the new tier could be used to squeeze more money out of subscribers, but the company would definitely be out of its act. For $3 less than the $19.99 price indicated in the survey, users can subscribe to Apple One, giving them Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple TV Plus, and 50GB of iCloud storage. For an extra $5, they can get all of that for up to six people with an additional 150GB of cloud storage.
That’s the kind of value companies the size of Apple can provide, and it’s hard for a relatively small company like Spotify to beat. It may have been the first to broadcast music well, but now the competition is very fierce.
Spotify heavy forecast
Of all the music streaming providers out there, Spotify is undoubtedly the go-to service for the majority of music lovers. However, despite its popularity, it still lags behind competitors when it comes to keeping up with subscribers’ demands for high-quality lossless audio content.
There has always been a demand for better sound quality, like Tidal and Deezer (Opens in a new tab)And the Qobuz (Opens in a new tab) Proven with the arrival of their lossless audio streaming platforms several years ago, the Spotify HiFi layer has been something often talked about since 2017. So why hasn’t it happened?
Well, the intervening years have been troubling for the tech industry as families feel the mounting financial pressure from rising costs post-pandemic. Additionally, the service ran into some trouble of its own in early 2022 when Neil Young removed his music from Spotify in protest of what Young felt was the spread of Covid-19 and vaccine misinformation through the Spotify-owned show “The Joe Rogan Experience.” A number of artists followed suit, and $2 billion of Spotify’s market capitalization was wiped out over that period.
Then there’s the licensing issue that Spotify CEO Daniel Eck alluded to about lossless content, which as far as we know is still ongoing. So the fact that there isn’t any word on Spotify’s HiFi category at the moment can only indicate that it has other priorities this year.
Of course, the market has shifted a lot between the times, with competitors offering lossless audio content at no additional cost, so it’s not too hard to imagine that Spotify might also reassess its position and figure out how it can make the long-awaited HiFi class work even better for music lovers.
Personally, I certainly hope so, and I look forward to seeing more Spotify HiFi news in 2023.
more: Spotify Wrapped 2022: How to get the annual recap of what you’re streaming
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