![]() In the UK, Amazon Music HD costs £12.99 per month for Prime members or £14.99 for non-Prime members. Whether-or-not Spotify takes off will probably be down to the all-important pricing. We're working with some of the world's biggest speaker manufacturers to make Spotify HiFi accessible to as many fans as possible through Spotify Connect. We're also assuming that the same can be said via the Spotify mobile app and desktop web player. The good news is that if you already own components or speakers that feature Spotify Connect, and you subscribe to Spotify HiFi, you will be able to access those higher-quality streams without having to do anything extra. What hasn't yet been made clear is which those territories are, when they will get the CD-quality streams, or how much it will actually cost. The green streaming giant even got Billie Eilish in to act on Spotify's behalf during the company's Stream On livestream event.ĭuring the announcement, it was made clear that this will be rolled out to limited territories in the first instance, as is usually the way. The Spotify HiFi service will start later this year and be available as an upgrade to Premium subscribers in select markets, which we are taking as an added cost option.Īlthough it has taken much longer for Spotify to get on the CD-quality+ train with the likes of Deezer and Amazon HD joining the established hi-res streamers of Qobuz (rumoured to be launching in Australia soon) and Tidal ahead of it, we are told that “high-quality music streaming has consistently been one of the users' most-requested features”. Instead, the service has announced it will offer “lossless CD-quality streams” in comparison to its current offering topping out at 320kbps, whereas Tidal can best 96 kHz / 24-bit audio. Last month, all three major labels in conjunction with Pandora, Napster and the RIAA, released a joint statement supporting initiatives and opportunities for hi-res audio streaming.Initially, we thought that the Swedish streaming service would come out guns blazing with a quality challenger to Tidal and Qobuz. MQA has received backing from Atlantic Records chairman/CEO Craig Kallman, leading to Warner Music Group signing a deal to license its technology last year, and in January 2017 Universal Music Group signed its own deal with the format. Last May, Billboard reported on Master Quality Authenticated (MQA), a new format that allows for higher-quality audio to be delivered through streaming services in a way that doesn’t cause bandwidth - in other words, connectivity - issues that would disrupt the stream itself. It would also seem to be in line with recent industry trends. in March 2015 with a lossless tier priced at $19.99 a year later, the most recent date the service has released numbers on this topic, Tidal reported that 45 percent of its 3 million subscribers - around 1.35 million people - upgraded to the premium, lossless audio tier, while Deezer also offers a hi-res option. Tidal notably made waves out of the gate by launching in the U.S. ![]() Regardless, it would make sense for Spotify to jump into the super-premium, hi-fi audio tier, particularly at a price point higher than its current $9.99 all-inclusive subscription. ![]() The company, for its part, was noncommittal, issuing a statement to Billboard that reads, “We are always testing new products and offers but have no news to share at this time.” A Spotify spokesperson declined to elaborate on that statement, or to provide any details of whether a hi-fi tier is being considered.Ĭan This New Music Format Finally Fix 'The MP3 Mistake'? The two offers, both called Spotify Hi-Fi, differed in pricing and features: one, priced at an additional $10 / month ($19.99 total), offered all premium features as well as lossless, CD-quality audio the other, priced at an additional $5 / month ($14.99 total), offered the same premium features and lossless audio, but also tacked on one free vinyl record and discounts on limited-edition vinyl. When users attempted to sign up, they were denied by either an error message or a notice saying the service wasn’t available in their area, according to The Verge, indicating that the messages were sent by mistake. According to Spotify users posting on Reddit, as reported by The Verge, several subscribers began receiving a message promoting new upgraded subscription tiers offering lossless, hi-fi quality audio for an additional $5 or $10 a month. As the streaming service sector continues to evolve with new players, differentiated price points and a broader slate of features and original content, Spotify appears to be on the verge of making its next move. ![]()
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