A couple of years after its original announcement, Spotify will finally launch its HiFi tier with lossless music streaming through a “Supremium” plan later this year, which might cost more than the current premium plan of $9.99 per month.
A report by toptechtrends.com/2022/02/04/spotify-ceo-hints-hifi-tier-delay-is-related-to-licensing-issues/”>Bloomberg noted that the company is launching this new plan to bolster its revenue and also appease investors asking for a price raise. The plan will also include access to audiobooks and will first launch in non-U.S. markets. Bloomberg noted that the company is discussing launching this “Supremium” plan in the U.S. in October if things go well in other markets.
Last October, a Reddit user noted that they were surveyed about a “Platinum tier” subscription costing $19.99 per month that included access to HiFi music, headphone tuner, and limited-ad podcast listening along with some additional features for playlist management and libraries.
The company first announced the HiFi tier toptechtrends.com/2021/02/22/spotify-to-launch-a-new-high-end-subscription-spotify-hifi/”>back in 2021. But the launch has been delayed. Last year, CEO Daniel Ek hinted that the launch was pushed toptechtrends.com/2022/02/04/spotify-ceo-hints-hifi-tier-delay-is-related-to-licensing-issues/”>due to licensing issues.
Soon after Spotify’s announcement, Apple introduced support for lossless music to toptechtrends.com/2021/05/17/apple-to-add-lossless-audio-at-no-additional-cost/”>Apple Music without additional cost in May 2021. At the same time, toptechtrends.com/2021/05/17/amazon-makes-its-its-lossless-music-streaming-service-a-free-upgrade/”>Amazon also made a move to upgrade its Amazon Prime Music subscription to include access to HiFi music.
Last year, Apple Music raised its toptechtrends.com/2022/10/24/apple-increases-u-s-subscription-prices-for-apple-music-apple-tv-apple-one-bundle/”>subscription fees from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. Earlier this year, Amazon also made toptechtrends.com/2023/01/20/amazons-music-unlimited-gets-a-price-hike-in-the-us-and-uk/”>a similar change to its Amazon Music Unlimited personal plan. On the other hand, Spotify still offers its premium plan at $9.99 per month — but the company raised its base subscription price in some international markets.
During its Q1 2023 earnings call, Spotify announced that toptechtrends.com/2023/04/25/spotify-now-has-more-than-500m-users/”>it has more than 500 million monthly active users and over 210 million premium subscribers. The costlier plan might not necessarily push the subscriber number by a lot, but it should increase the average revenue per user and add value to people who want to access lossless music from Spotify.
toptechtrends.com/2023/06/20/spotifys-will-reportedly-launch-hifi-audio-through-a-costlier-premium-subscription/”>Spotify’s will reportedly launch HiFi audio through a costlier premium subscription by toptechtrends.com/author/ivan-mehta/”>Ivan Mehta originally published on toptechtrends.com/”>TechCrunch
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