The streaming giant hasn’t made their plans known yet, but it looks to be on the horizon.
It looks like Spotify is prepping the launch of Spotify Hi-Fi, a lossless-quality premium tier that will reportedly cost $20 a month.
A post on Reddit alleges a user received a notification in the Android Spotify app asking to upgrade to lossless audio for an extra $7.50 a month. Sources confirm to The Verge that Hi-Fi is, indeed, going to be available at some point, but there is no clarity yet on exactly when.
Anyone get this invitation for Spotify Hi-Fi? Looks awesome! pic.twitter.com/2aeYXMIHJD
— Cody Kloepfer (@Semantics) March 1, 2017
As The Verge points out, if Spotify can get a portion of their hefty 40 million for-pay subscriber base to upgrade, they may be able to push toward profitability – something the company believes is possible in 2017.
Lossless audio, of course, was one of Tidal’s unique selling points when it first launched in 2015. While that would be a spike in competition for Tidal, Spotify does not offer artist exclusives which they have previously called “not good for artists.”