Spotify Still Intends to Launch Delayed HiFi Lossless Plan, Just Don't Ask When

Spotify says it still plans to launch a lossless music experience, although when that will be and what form it will take still appear undecided.

General Spotify Feature
It's been more than two years since Spotify announced it would introduce a "HiFi" premium tier that would give users access to a catalog of CD-quality music tracks. Originally it said the tier would go live by the end of 2021, but similar moves by rival streaming services upended Spotify's lossless strategy.

Since then, Apple Music has included lossless listening options as part of its standard subscription price, and Amazon has stopped charging extra for its lossless music library. That's made the idea of Spotify asking users to pay more for a like-for-like service sound a lot less reasonable.

"We announced it, but then the industry changed for a bunch of reasons," Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström said on Tuesday in an interview with The Verge. "We are going to do it, but we're going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners. The industry changed and we had to adapt."

"We want to do it in a way where it works for us from a cost perspective as well," Söderström continued. "I'm not allowed to comment on our label agreements, nor on what other players in the industry did, for obvious reasons," he added.

According to The Verge, Spotify HiFi has been ready to launch for more than a year, and Spotify employees have access to HiFi, but it was originally intended to cost more than the standard plan. Given Apple and Amazon's moves, Spotify's lossless is now expected to appear as part of a more extensive plan that includes access to spatial audio tracks and other perks to do with audiobooks and podcasts.

When the plan will arrive, however, is still unknown, with Söderström only able to confirm to The Verge that HiFi "is coming at some point."

Tag: Spotify

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Top Rated Comments

AirunJae Avatar
34 months ago
"We were going to charge more for HiFi but then Apple and Amazon started including Lossless for free." That's the answer for why there's no HiFi yet.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dwalls90 Avatar
34 months ago
Spotify has been obnoxious with their cries of Apple's anti-competitive behavior while also not taking advantage of Apple's API's for native HomePod support. However, in my opinion, their algorithms to generate playlists and discover music is still the best in the industry. I also don't think the majority of users care about lossless quality... 320kbps is solid.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McWetty Avatar
34 months ago
If the development team behind the Apple Watch app is working on Lossless, I’d estimate sometime around July… 2032.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ericwn Avatar
34 months ago
The lack of the feature surely doesn’t seem to impact their business much.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
steve09090 Avatar
34 months ago

Spotify has been obnoxious with their cries of Apple's anti-competitive behavior while also not taking advantage of Apple's API's for native HomePod support. However, in my opinion, their algorithms to generate playlists and discover music is still the best in the industry. I also don't think the majority of users care about lossless quality... 320kbps is solid.
Spotify are certainly better at choosing playlists. But that’s where it stops.
And they are now introducing AI voice introductions to their premium subscriptions. Do people really want to hear an Ai generated dj instead of the music? Stupid stupid stupid.

Maybe they need to prioritise where they are spending everyone’s money.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
one more Avatar
34 months ago
Not that HiFi matters much for people using AirPods, EarPods, Beats or any other Bluetooth gear for that matter. It also introduces a much greater lag when streaming, so the only real benefit of HiFi is for people with dedicated HiFi equipment who want the maximum immersion into their sound.

Other than that, app aesthetics aside (as this is very individual), I still find Spotify better than Apple Music for its main task, which is playing & discovering music. I regularly retry Apple Music, but still cannot find a reason to switch.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)