Spotify’s HiFi tier is coming — but not soon

There are reports that Apple Music’s lossless launch has ruined Spotify’s HiFi plans, but Spotify executives finally confirm that new tiers are still coming.

Spotify has announced that a lossless tier called Spotify HiFi will be released in 2021. Two years later, executives said the HiFi tier was definitely coming, but we don’t know when yet.

According to a report from The Barge, Spotify has provided a HiFi tier accessible to employees for over a year. But plans changed when Apple Music and Amazon released lossless music at no extra charge.

This report is based on an interview with Spotify Co-President Gustav Soderstrom. decoder Additional information obtained by The BargeThe HiFi tier was briefly mentioned in the interview, but no release date or other information was provided.

“We announced it, but then the industry changed for a variety of reasons,” Soderstrom said. decoder“We’re going to do it, but we’re going to do it in a way that makes sense for us and our listeners. The industry has changed and we’ve had to adapt.”

Interviewers asked for details as to why the layers were delayed, but Soderstrom did not specifically mention any deals with competitors or labels. A later report said Apple Music’s no-additional-cost lossless implementation had wrecked Spotify’s plans, but Soderstrom didn’t say so directly.

Reportedly, Spotify wants to offer lossless music on higher paying tiers, and may continue to do so. This tier can drive revenue and offer even more features such as spatial audio.

The interview featured in the report focused on Spotify pivoting to a format like TikTok. No release date for Spotify HiFi or intent to include spatial audio or other formats was mentioned.