The report makes you wonder if Spotify HiFi was ever a real plan.
Spotify’s delayed rollout of high-fidelity streaming may be justified, at least according to Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Music Report. The study shows a steady decrease in paid subscribers’ interest in HiFi audio since 2021, which could explain why Spotify isn’t rushing to add this feature.
The Decreasing Priority of HiFi
In the first half of 2024, global on-demand audio streaming surged by 15.1% compared to the same period in 2023. And, the U.S. market mirrored this trend with an 8.0% increase.
Yet, despite this growth, high-quality audio seems to be losing its appeal among subscribers.
The numbers tell the story.
In 2024, only 31% of paid music streamers thought high-quality audio was important.
This shows a steady drop from past years: 34% in 2023, 33% in 2022, and 37% in 2021.
Compared to this, Luminate’s report reveals other features that rank higher in importance for paid streamers.
Price remains the top consideration for most users when choosing a streaming service. After that, it’s how easy it is to use, how much music it has, and if it works well on multiple devices.
Interestingly, high-quality audio (including HiFi and lossless options) is seen as “High Importance, Low Index” for U.S. paid streamers thinking about switching services in the next six months.
Meaning, while sound quality matters, it’s not the main reason people choose to switch between streaming services.
The study also found that paid streamers care more about sharing songs and playlists, family or student plans, access to global artists’ music, curated playlists, and podcasts.
It looks like most listeners care more about sharing music and having lots of content options than audio quality.
Spotify’s HiFi Plans
Spotify HiFi seems to be a long-forgotten promise. But, there are some talks that Spotify is actually working on it (for real this time).
During a July 2024 earnings call, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced a new “deluxe” subscription tier, expected to cost about $17-$18 monthly.
So, for those who care about sound quality, this could be the upgrade they’ve been waiting for, though at a higher price.
This new plan, about $5 more than the current Premium subscription, comes over three years after Spotify first mentioned HiFi. But, it puts Spotify up against Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal, which already offer lossless audio for less money.
Ek seemed confident about the demand for a premium Spotify experience among their 246 million premium subscribers. However, the launch date is still unknown, so it’s best to treat it as another “anytime soon” news on Spotify HiFi.
What Spotify Is Focusing on Instead
Instead of HiFi, Spotify has been investing heavily in features that align more closely with current user preferences.
For one, the streaming giant has been changing its platform to be more social and interactive, similar to popular social media apps.
New updates include a TikTok-style discovery feed, better artist profiles for selling merch and concert tickets, and the ability for artists to post stories.
Spotify has also added polls and Q&As for podcasts, and recently, a comments feature for podcast episodes.
Aside from that, the company has also branched out beyond music as it put a lot of money into podcasts and audiobooks.
These moves show that Spotify is slowly gearing to be a complete audio entertainment platform, not just a music streaming service.
By adding different features and content, Spotify seems to be addressing the wider preferences shown in the Luminate report, such as having various content and ways to share. This approach might work better to keep and attract subscribers than focusing mainly on audio quality, given what users care about now.
People are sick and tired of paying fore everything, In a while we are going to pay for the air we breath. Now Youtube is destroying it product (music) putting advertisements in the middle of a music piece. If you put add block they are blackmailing that they will block you Enough is enough! They were doing very well financially without the advertisements but they want more. Can you calculate how much money it is if you add the fees they ask multiplied by 800 000 000 subscribers? They will capitalize more than Elon Musk!