Spotify is planning to launch a pricier Premium music tier later this year that includes access to high-fidelity audio.
That’s according to Bloomberg, which, citing sources, reports today (June 11) that this new tier will cost “at least $5 more per month” and will be “an add-on” for existing subscribers.
The report adds that the new plan will include high-fidelity audio as well as new playlisting and song library management tools.
This latest news arrived a year after Bloomberg reported that Spotify was working on a new subscription plan referred to internally as the ‘Supremium’ tier.
According to Bloomberg’s latest report, “customers who choose to upgrade” to the new plan when it launches “will generate additional sales for [Spotify] and its business partners”.
Spotify’s reported plan to launch a pricier Premium tier this year follows the company’s recent price hike in the United States, where its individual Premium tier is going up by $1 per month to $11.99.
According to Spotify, over the next month, existing US-based subscribers will receive an email about the update, explaining that the new subscription price will come into effect on their billing date in July.
Meanwhile, on Spotify’s Q1 earnings call on April 23, Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek confirmed that a new ‘music-only’ subscription tier is also coming to the platform as part of a new layered menu of subscription tiers – including audiobook-only and music-only options.
The new music-only tier, called Basic Individual, quietly arrived in the UK this month and costs £10.99 per month without access to audiobooks.
In the UK, Spotify’s Premium Individual tier, which includes 15 hours of audiobook listening per month, costs £11.99. Spotify increased the price of its flagship Premium subscription plan in the UK to £11.99 in April, up from £10.99.
The price point of the Basic Individual tier in the UK suggests that it will also cost $10.99 in the United States, when it eventually launches in the US.
Spotify first announced that it would launch High-quality music streaming on its platform at the beginning of 2021.
The company said at the time that HiFi audio was, “consistently one of the most requested new features by our users”.
Spotify announced the service at its Stream On event, with an announcement featuring Billie Eilish and brother Finneas. SPOT said at the time that the HiFi feature would “begin rolling out in select markets” later that year.
The feature didn’t and still hasn’t arrived, however.
In October 2022, reports arrived that the streaming giant was readying a new $19.99-per-month ‘Platinum’ tier that would include HiFi audio.
According to Bloomberg’s latest report, the new premium plan, which includes HiFi audio, “could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue” for Spotify.
The arrival of high-fidelity audio on Spotify would bring the platform in line with competitors that offer higher-fidelity listening options.
In May 2021, Spotify rival Apple Music rolled out Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos to its service for free.
That same month, Amazon Music also launched HD music listening options for its Music Unlimited Service “at No Extra Cost.” Music Unlimited costs £9.99/month for Prime Members and £10.99/month for non-Prime members.
TIDAL’s Individual subscription tier costs $10.99 per month and offers tracks in lossless, HiRes FLAC, and Dolby Atmos.
Deezer, meanwhile, offers HiFi as a standard for all Premium subscribers at 11.99.Music Business Worldwide