In February 2021 Spotify announced a lossless tier for its streaming service which was dubbed “Spotify HiFi”, however, this new tier has yet to actually roll out. Rivals like Apple Music have since introduced their own lossless catalogues, which has apparently caused Spotify to push back on the launch of HiFi (which is known as “Supremium” internally).
Now Bloomberg signals that HiFi may finally be ready to launch, but warns that the subscription price will be higher. How much higher is not clear. A few months ago there was a survey suggesting a price of $20, double the current $10 Premium plan.
These are US prices, although Spotify may try the HiFi in other markets before bringing it to the US (similar to how Netflix tested the password sharing ban in other markets to gauge customer reaction).
Spotify has entered the podcast space in recent years with some success (and some failures as well). You’ve probably heard of them Joe Rogan’s experience and may have seen reports that Spotify has split from Harry and Meghan. But did you know that Spotify also sells audiobooks?
Currently, these are sold one by one, in contrast to the all-inclusive approach to music streaming. That could change as soon as the Premium tier gets access to audiobooks (and not the new Supremium plan, surprisingly, which may have helped justify the price increase).
Users will be limited to how much they could listen to, but it’s currently unclear whether that means a limit on the number of hours listened to per month or the number of different titles each month. Expanding access to audiobooks will likely have a trial run in other markets before arriving in the all-important US market (expected to happen in October).
For comparison, Apple Music’s $11 a month plan ($6 a month for students) includes lossless access to the catalog. Amazon also recently priced Music Unlimited at $11 (or $9 if you have Prime).
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