After over three years of anticipation, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has finally confirmed the rumors: an upgraded version of the music service, including high-fidelity (HiFi) music quality, is in development. During the company's earnings call, Ek shared that the new version, which he referred to as "Deluxe," will be offered at a price of approximately $17 to $18 per month and will include a variety of benefits beyond the standard premium service.
Although no exact launch timeline was provided, Bloomberg previously reported that Spotify aims to launch the enhanced version later this year. This announcement comes after years of changes and delays in Spotify's plans to introduce a high-quality audio service.
Initially, the company planned to launch a service called "Spotify HiFi" at an additional cost but had to adjust its strategy after Apple and Amazon began offering high-quality audio as part of their regular subscriptions.
"There is a large group of users who want a much better version of Spotify," Ek said, referring to the platform's 246 million subscribers. "These are big music enthusiasts who primarily seek more flexibility in how they use Spotify and the existing music capabilities on the platform."