Hifi subscription is finally coming to Spotify.
The release of Spotify Platinum is approaching. Unsplash
Spotify Hifi was announced in February 2021, after which Spotify has been silent about it. Last January, Spotify announced that the new subscription would be delayed. Now it would seem that Hifi subscriptions called Spotify Platinum are coming to the service in the near future.
9to5Mac is about a person who had canceled his Spotify subscription. The person had received an email encouraging Spotify to renew the subscription. The message in question also mentioned a “Spotify Platinum” subscription that was being offered for $19.99 a month. In connection with the Platinum subscription, Spotify Hifi was mentioned.
In addition to high-res audio, the email also referred to studio audio, headphone equalizer, soundscape, pro library, pro playlists, and limiting ads in podcasts. There is no more detailed information about these features yet.
The email stated that orders would be available within 30 days, suggesting that Platinum could be seen as early as a month if the email is true. The message was sent by a US user, so it is difficult to assess the situation in Europe. Spotify has usually rolled out its features widely, so presumably Platinum will be widely rolled out immediately.
Lossless CD-quality sound is an important addition for Spotify in the competition against other music streaming services such as Tidal and Apple Music. The future will show whether subscribers are ready to pay double for Platinum compared to the current subscription. For many, the Hifi order is not important at all, and many may not even hear the difference.
It remains to be seen what the other features mentioned in the email are, and how much more they add to the basic subscription.