Since the streaming music platform announced Spotify Hifi, the delays have not stopped happening. At first it was thought that the company had decided not to finally release this version as there was no point in offering a more expensive version when Apple Music offers all its content in high fidelity and lossless at the same price. But it seems that this is not the reason.
Has been Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has explained that the reason why Spotify’s HiFi subscription mode has been delayed again is mainly due to licensing issues. It was during the declaration of quarterly and annual results in front of his investors, when Ek indicated that they still have plans to launch Spotify HiFi, but that they cannot give a date.
It may interest you: So you can create a playlist with all the discography in chronological order on Spotify
Spotify HiFi delayed indefinitely
One of the questions had to do with the image that Spotify was giving by promising a HiFi service that did not arrive. And the response of the CEO of the company was that the main problem is the licenses,
«A lot of the features we talked about, especially the music-related ones, end up in licences.”Ek told investors. «So I can’t really announce any specific details on this other than to say that we are in constant dialogue with our partners to bring this to market.”
A year has passed since the on-demand content platform announced the arrival of Spotify HiFi. At the time, they said that this service would arrive throughout 2021 to be able to enjoy lossless sound and high fidelity, They even promised that this service would be compatible with all kinds of devices, unlike its great rival Apple Music. Nothing is further from reality.
From what the CEO of the streaming giant says, despite the fact that they intend to charge more to be able to access this music, problems with licenses have been the reason why this new modality has been delayed indefinitely.
Will Spotify HiFi arrive in 2022?
In addition, as the TechCrunch colleagues collect, last month in the Spotify forums we could see that a representative of the company indicated that “We know HiFi audio quality is important to you.” We feel the same way, and are excited to bring a Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future. But we don’t have time details to share yet. Of course, we will inform you here when we can.
The problem with Spotify is that its rivals are already offering CD-quality lossless audio, or 16-bit at 44.1 kHz, going all the way up to 24-bit at 48 kHz. Audiophiles can also opt for high resolution lossless, which goes up to 24 bits at 192 kHz. We are talking about Amazon Music HD and Apple Music, two alternatives that are gaining more and more weight in the sector.
And the best example we have in Tidal. This platform cannot compete with these giants, but even so, it continues to gain customers there and with its market niche assured, making it clear that there are enough users interested in enjoying high fidelity sound. Therefore, Spotify HiFi should not take too long to arrive, since little by little its great rivals, and some not so great ones that manage to retain their customers, are eating up ground.
