Spotify will soon launch a premium HiFi audio tier

Since at least 2017, there have been rumors about a Spotify HiFi tier. The company even announced plans to launch such a feature in 2021, only to pull the plug the following year. According to report, the company may now be ready to launch its most expensive high-fidelity plan, dubbed “Supremium” internally.

The aim would be to increase revenue and satisfy investor demands for price increases. As two of Spotify’s primary rivals, Apple Music and Amazon Music, began including the feature for free in their standard plans, Spotify reportedly delayed implementing the plan until 2021.

Additionally, Spotify may expand access to audiobooks as part of its regular Premium service, either through a predetermined number of free hours per month or a predetermined number of books (with the option to purchase more). Currently, audiobooks can only be purchased individually on Spotify.

Whether the audio would be lossless at 24-bit and 192kHz, like it is on Amazon Music and Apple Music, is unknown. Due to the high bandwidth, lossless audio generally does not function on Bluetooth speakers or headphones (including Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Max), so users must use a wired or WiFi setup.

Pricing has also not been made public. In contrast to Apple and Amazon, which increased their prices to $10.99 per month, Spotify has maintained its $9.99 per month Premium plan in the United States. During a recent earnings call, CEO Daniel Ek stated that the company tries to strike a balance between revenue growth and subscriber growth. As a result, pricing varies by region depending on which of those it is attempting to boost. After laying off 6% of its workforce in January, the business announced earlier this month that it would reduce its workforce by 2%.