Spotify’s HiFi Tier is Rolling Out Soon

A recent report has suggested that the launch of Apple Music‘s lossless service has caused Spotify to alter its plans for the release of its HiFi tier. Spotify initially announced the HiFi tier, which would offer lossless audio quality, two years ago and had planned to release it in 2021. However, no release date has been provided as of yet.

According to The Verge, Spotify has had a HiFi tier available for over a year but plans changed when Apple Music and Amazon revealed lossless music at no additional cost. The report is based on an interview with Spotify co-president Gustav Soderstrom conducted by Decoder and additional information obtained by The Verge. Although Soderstrom confirmed that the HiFi tier is definitely coming, he did not provide any details on when it would be released.

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

When pressed for more information on why the release was delayed, Soderstrom did not mention competitors or label deals specifically. However, the report suggests that Spotify had hoped to offer lossless music at a higher-paid tier and may still do so. This tier would be a revenue driver and could offer even more functionality, such as spatial audio.

Despite the setback caused by the introduction of Apple Music’s lossless service, it seems that Spotify is still committed to releasing its HiFi tier in the future. While the interview focused on Spotify’s new TikTok-like format, there was no mention of a specific release date or any intention to include spatial audio or other formats.