Announced in 2021, Spotify is continuously working on a superior HiFi quality for its library of songs. According to Bloomberg‘s Ashley Carman, the streaming service company is readying a “Supremium” subscription tier in an effort to drive more revenue.
The most expensive Spotify plan could likely offer HiFi – which is offered at no extra cost on Apple Music and Amazon Music –in addition to a few other benefits. People familiar with the matter say the company could give subscribers “expanded access to audiobooks, either through a specific number of hours free per month or a specific number of titles. There will be an option to purchase more.”
This feature is expected to hit the US market by October and then launch in other markets. Currently, users can only buy audiobooks a la carte through its app. At the moment, a Spotify spokesperson declined to comment.
Early this year, Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, hinted that he expects the company to raise prices in 2023. “When the timing is right, we will raise it, and that price increase will go down because we’re delivering a lot of value for our customers.
In the first quarter of the year, Spotify had 515 million monthly active users, with Premium subscribers at 210 million – beating market expectations. Unlike Apple and Amazon, which don’t have streaming services as their main core business, companies like Spotify and Netflix suffer to drive revenue, and their customers are more sensitive about price increases.
If HiFi quality will be enough to increase Spotify subscribers is still unclear. For most people, having better audio quality doesn’t make a difference, as most of them use wireless earbuds, which can’t stream Lossless.
Audiobooks could help drive people to a more expensive subscription. However, the streaming service company would have to offer more benefits to charge an extra price for features some other competitors provide for free.
BGR will keep following Spotify’s saga to offer HiFi quality for its users.
