Spotify makes it clear: it cares more about video podcasts than launching its long-awaited lossless HiFi tier
Spotify still can’t specify a release date for HiFi –but it’s launching uninterrupted video podcasts in January.
Spotify is still working on the hi-fi tier first revealed in 2017Spotify is launching ad-free video podcasts in early 2025Spotify’s financials suggest it doesn’t need hi-res streaming
In 2017, Spotify was preparing to launch a hi-fi music tier. And now, seven years later, Spotify is preparing to launch a hi-fi music tier. We wouldn’t recommend holding your breath; in its latest earnings call on Wednesday November 13, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek responded to a question about Spotify Supremium, saying that it was indeed coming with better sound quality “and a bunch of other things”. But he wouldn’t commit to a timescale – and let’s not forget, a few months back he said “it’s early days”.
Although Spotify Hi-Fi is beginning to sound a lot like the Tesla Roadster (whose buyers plonked down $38K deposits in 2017 for cars that still don’t exist), Spotify is improving what it offers. It’s just not improving the sound quality.
While Spotify Hi-Fi, Supremium, or whatever it ends up being called, is still in limbo, Spotify will launch ad-free video podcasts in January, and the firm notes that there are already 300,000 video podcast shows on the streaming service.
Opinion: Spotify doesn’t really care about music
Many years back, a music business expert told me that music companies didn’t care about music; they’d sell Brillo pads full of custard if that’s where the money was. And I’ve long thought the same about Spotify, whose CEO’s net worth (around $6.9 billion) is more than any musician who’s ever lived (Jay-Z is reportedly worth around $2.5 billion; Taylor Swift a relatively paltry $1.6 billion) and whose service stopped paying royalties to smaller artists earlier this year.
Spotify’s big love isn’t music. It’s growth. And it sees podcasts as the prime driver of that growth. The reason we don’t have Spotify Hi-Fi is because it’s no Joe Rogan.
The latest official quarterly financials make Spotify’s position clear. Monthly active users are up. Net subscribers are up. Total revenues are up 21%, premium revenues are up 24% and advertising revenue is up 7%. Spotify’s profit margin is a record-breaking 31.1%; its operating income is breaking records too.
It’s obvious that the reason Spotify hasn’t launched its hi-fi tier is because, financially speaking, it doesn’t need to make its music sound better – it’s got Spotify Wrapped, Daylist and other fan favorites doing the heavy lifting to accelerate growth. But I think it’s sad that it doesn’t seem to want to do it either.
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