It"s been over two years since the music streaming service Spotify announced its plans to give subscribers a new tier that would include music in lossless HiFi audio quality. Since then, subscribers have been waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. Today, a new report claims that the HiFi tier might actually launch sometime in 2023.
The report from Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, says the new plan currently has the code name "Supremium". That"s likely because it will be Spotify"s most expensive streaming plan yet.
The report did not offer any pricing for this new plan. Spotify currently charges $9.99 a month in the US for its premium plan.
The report added that once the "Supremium" plan is launched, it might also include some extra features. Those features might include access to free audiobooks, which could include either a select number of titles per month, or a certain number of free audiobook hours. Finally, the report added that the new plan might launch in markets outside of the US at first.
When Spotify first announced its plans for a HiFI tier over two years ago, the only other major music streaming service to offer that kind of high-end streaming audio was Tidal.
Since then, other rivals like Apple Music and Amazon Music have added lossless audio. More importantly, they have done so at no additional cost to their regular subscribers.
Since Spotify already costs $9.99 a month for its individual premium plan, the streaming audio service will have to justify launching a more expensive plan with lossless audio when its biggest rivals are doing so at a much cheaper price point.
The company is also dealing with other issues. Earlier this year, it revealed it would cut 6 percent of its workforce. A few weeks ago, it announced it will lay off 200 more of its employees as it cuts back on its podcast efforts.