While Kelly McMichael may have reminded us how to optimize audio quality on Spotify, the streaming platform is still famously the one that Neil Young thinks sounds like shit. A new report from Bloomberg, however, suggests that the streamer may be introducing a high-fidelity audio tier for subscribers later this year — and it will cost at least $5 more per month.
Set to be marketed as an add-on for existing customers, the new hi-fi tier will also offer upgrading subscribers "new tools for creating playlists and managing their song libraries." The report reads, "Subscribers to the new tier will also be able to instantly generate custom playlists for certain activities, dates and times of the year. The playlists will learn and adapt to each user based on their behaviour and eventually develop playlists without prompting," which sounds like even scarier AI use than those auto-generated Daylist playlist titles.
The exact monthly cost will vary based on the user's existing base plan, but Bloomberg's source estimates that the fees will average out to be about a 40 percent markup. When Spotify initially announced back in 2021 that it would be introducing a new high-fidelity audio tier (before delaying its rollout), competitors like Apple Music and Amazon Music were quick to integrate lossless audio into their standard subscription plans at no additional cost.
And if you need reminding, when you're giving your money to Spotify, the musicians you're listening to are seeing very little of it! After all, as CEO Daniel Ek declared recently, the "cost of creating content" is "close to zero." The company also announced last month that it would be bundling audiobooks into its subscription plans, which will reportedly qualify the service for royalty discounts and enable them to pay songwriters $150 million less in the first 12 months after implementing the changes.
