Spotify promised to add Hifi a year ago. Where is it?

Spotify is set to miss its own deadline to add HiFi CD quality audio. Meanwhile competitors Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL have offered improved audio at no additional cost.

In February of 2021 Spotify announced that it would launch HiFi CD quality lossless audio tier later in the year. Although there were very few specifics, the company did say that high-definition audio was one of the most requested features that they’ve received.

But baring an unlikely surprise holiday announcement, 2021 is drawing to a close without the launch of Spotify HiFi.

Meanwhile Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL all offered both Lossless HiFi audio and Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio to their paid subscriptions at no additional cost.

That competitors launched lossless audio at no additional cost rather than the $19.99 that many predicted, may be why Spotify moved its “most requested feature” down the priority list; and recent comparative growth stats suggest that the decision has gone almost unnoticed by consumers.

Still, there have been signs that Spotify HIFI is still coming.

In August, an onboarding video leaked (watch below), but since then nothing.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.