A couple of years after its original announcement, Spotify will finally launch its hi-fi tier with lossless music streaming through a “Supremium” plan later this year, which might cost more than the current premium plan of $9.99 per month.
A report by Bloomberg noted that the company is launching this new plan to bolster its revenue and also appease investors asking for a price raise. The plan will include access to audiobooks and will first launch in non-U.S. markets. Bloomberg noted that the company is discussing launching this “Supremium” plan in the U.S. in October if things go well in other markets.
Last October, a Reddit user noted that they were surveyed about a “Platinum tier” subscription costing $19.99 per month that included access to hi-fi music, headphone tuner, and limited-ad podcast listening along with some additional features for playlist management and libraries.
The company first announced the hi-fi tier back in 2021. But the launch has been delayed. Last year, CEO Daniel Ek hinted that the launch was pushed due to licensing issues.
Soon after Spotify’s announcement, Apple introduced support for lossless music to Apple Music without additional cost in May 2021. At the same time, Amazon also made a move to upgrade its Amazon Prime Music subscription to include access to hi-fi music.
Last year, Apple Music raised its subscription fees from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. Earlier this year, Amazon also made a similar change to its Amazon Music Unlimited personal plan. On the other hand, Spotify still offers its premium plan at $9.99 per month — but the company raised its base subscription price in some international markets.
During its Q1 2023 earnings call, Spotify announced that it has more than 500 million monthly active users and over 210 million premium subscribers. The costlier plan might not necessarily push the subscriber number by a lot, but it should increase the average revenue per user and add value to people who want to access lossless music from Spotify.