Three years on, Spotify Hi-Fi launch plans still in ‘early days’

Spotify is still working on an improved version of its Premium tier, which would include “higher quality across the board”.

However, the streaming service’s CEO Daniel Ek, said the project is still in the “early days” on an earnings call on Tuesday – despite it being more than three years since the plans for Spotify HiFi were first revealed.

Furthermore, Ek is confirming the new tier will cost around $5 more than the current Premium subscription fee, which is currently $11.99/£11.99 a month for the individual plan.

Subscribers will get other benefits as well as high quality streaming, Ek said, including “a lot more control”. That appears to be a hint about the rumoured feature enabling users to remix songs and alter their tempo. Reports have suggested this tier may be called Spotify Music Pro.

Ek also promised other benefits that he says he’s “not ready to talk about yet” will also be part of the “deluxe” offering.

In the quarterly earnings call (via 9to5Mac), Ek said: “The plan here is to offer much a much better version of Spotify. Think something like $5 above the current premium tier. So it’s probably around a $17 or $18 price point, but sort of a deluxe version of Spotify that has all of the benefits that the normal Spotify version has, but a lot more control, a lot higher quality across the board, and some other things that I’m not ready to talk about just yet.”

The idea that Hi-Fi audio is still in the early days is likely to leave Spotify subscribers in further despair. It was early in 2021 when the company announced its plans for a high resolution tier, but it has failed to materialise.

Spotify has prioritised adding audiobooks and podcasts to its platform instead, while reports have suggested the company has struggled to agree terms with rights holders over the royalty rates of music streamed at the higher quality.

Apple Music, on the other hand, surprisingly announced lossless music and 2021 and immediately launched it for subscribers.