Spotify seems to be gearing up for more expensive subscriptions, and I'm annoyed

Date:
Fri, 07 Feb 2025 13:55:11 +0000

Description:
Spotify's new deal with Warner Music Group should help "further paid subscription tiers".

FULL STORY ======================================================================Spotify has inked a new deal with Warner Music Group That could include a
long-awaited Hi-Fi tier for super-fans and audiophiles Competing services
have begun offering Hi-Res Audio as standard, though

Spotify is about to get more complicated, if a new announcement from the music streaming service is anything to go by.

On February 6, Spotify and Warner Music Group announced a new partnership
deal to "deliver new fan experiences, a deeper music and video catalog, further paid subscription tiers, and differentiated content bundles."

The deal is likely to see even more music and video content added to
Spotify's 80,000 track library, with support for a new 'superfan' premium
tier expected to launch some time in 2025.

While this may finally give Spotify subscribers access to Hi-Res Audio something that Tidal and Apple Music have offered for years it also represents another complication in Spotifys increasingly sprawling content offering.

A strength of Spotify has been its simplicity: it hasnt split up its user
base between various pricing options, other than free and paid, and casual users dont have to contend with whether to opt for Hi-Fi audio their smartphone speakers and budget headphones are incapable of recreating anyway.

Spotify also doesnt need you to suss out various other content services at
the point of subscription, as with Apple One or Amazon Primes group
offerings. And if you stuck to the free tier, its very very easy to just pick a song and start playing.

But, as the service has ballooned in its scope and ambition, pursuing high-profile podcast hosts and expanded video content, Spotify has only got more complicated. There are now, in some countries, separate tiers without access to audiobooks , alongside various options for individuals and
families, and a new superfan tier is only going to lengthen the list of options and bundles on offer. (Image credit: Future) Cash grab

Im also irritated by the suggestion of a further paywall for Hi-Res music. These days, both Apple Music and Tidal include Hi-Res Audio as part of its basic package, which does not seem to be Spotifys strategy here higher-quality audio is something to be further paywalled, rather than something to draw users to the platform in the first place.

Given that Spotify offers notably less money per stream ($0.00437) to artists than either Apple ($0.0056-0.0078) or Tidal ($0.013), let alone Qobuz (a
plush $0.022), its hard to imagine those well-monetized superfans will funnel more cash to artists rather than Spotify's coffers.

But Spotifys market position means that its unlikely to be punished for paywalling a feature included by default in its competitors standard plans.

Spotify is the dominant music streaming service, aided by a free,
ad-supported streaming tier that brings its subscriber count to over 650 million many hundred times larger than that of Apple Music or Tidal. Spotify is simply the place most people listen to music today.

Im happy for Spotify users whove been waiting too long for Hi-Res Audio to
hit the service. But this new strategy would only make me wonder why I havent moved over to another platform yet. You might also like Spotify will 'double down' on music in 2025, but does that mean Hi-Fi or AI? Here's why I ditched Tidal for Spotify after just five days I changed this one small Spotify feature and it made my music sound dramatically better



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/spotify/spotify-seems-to-be-gearing-up-for-mor e-expensive-subscriptions-and-im-annoyed


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