Spotify HiFi has been really ready to go for “over a year”, with engineering work almost done, a library filled with lossless audio, and even Spotify staff testing the feature. Söderström’s comments are not directly pointing in one direction, but it’s pretty clear what he’s referring to. Shortly after Spotify announced HiFi, Apple revealed that it would be rolling out a free lossless music streaming service to Apple Music subscribers.
Spotify HiFi was announced in February 2021 with the promise that the feature would launch later this year. But of course, it’s been more than a year since that deadline has passed and Spotify has been completely silent as to why we haven’t seen any progress.
HiFi was originally planned as an add-on to Spotify Premium, but from what Söderström says it’s pretty clear that Spotify still plans to generate revenue from the feature, but perhaps from a new way. lose Apple Music subscribers. The Verge adds that HiFi “may eventually arrive as part of a more expensive package – possibly a package that also includes spatial/Dolby Atmos audio and other podcast and audiobook benefits”.
When HiFi may finally arrive, however, remains a mystery. But it’s good to see that it hasn’t been completely abandoned.