Sources: Spotify HiFi as a premium tier was ready to launch over a year ago, but Apple's decision to offer lossless audio at no extra charge spoiled its plans
Even though Spotify HiFi still hasn't launched after being announced more than two years ago, some kind of lossless experience …
Context & Ripple Effects
Spotify had positioned HiFi as a separate lossless subscription in 2021, but by early 2023 its promised tier was still absent after two years of silence. The reported Apple move removed the clearest rationale for charging extra for the feature.
The later Supremium bundle proposal suggests Spotify was already looking beyond audio quality alone for a higher-priced offering. Subsequent coverage of lossless arriving for existing Premium subscribers indicates that the standalone-upsell model was ultimately abandoned.
First-order effects
- Spotify loses the planned price premium for HiFi, while Apple makes lossless audio a feature customers can receive without an added charge.
- Spotify HiFi’s launch is delayed despite being reportedly ready, leaving Spotify’s existing Premium tier without the announced lossless upgrade.
Second-order effects
- Spotify’s premium-tier strategy has to shift toward bundles of additional benefits, as reflected in the later report of HiFi paired with audiobooks and other features.
- Apple’s included-lossless decision raises the competitive bar for any music service seeking to charge separately for sound quality rather than broader service differentiation.
Third-order effects
- If lossless audio is treated as a standard subscription feature, streaming services will have less room to segment users by fidelity and more incentive to monetize through bundled content and perks.
The trend: Music-streaming services are moving lossless audio from a standalone upsell toward a baseline feature, pushing premium-tier differentiation into bundles.