Spotify makes it clear: it cares more about video podcasts than launching its long-awaited lossless HiFi tier

• Spotify is still working on the hi-fi tier first revealed in 2017
• Spotify is launching ad-free video podcasts in early 2025
• Spotify’s financials suggest it doesn’t need hi-res streaming

In 2017, Spotify was preparing to launch a hi-fi music tier. And now, seven years later, Spotify is preparing to launch a hi-fi music tier. We wouldn’t recommend holding your breath; in its latest earnings call on Wednesday November 13, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek responded to a question about Spotify Supremium, saying that it was indeed coming with better sound quality “and a bunch of other things”. But he wouldn’t commit to a timescale – and let’s not forget, a few months back he said “it’s early days”.

Although Spotify Hi-Fi is beginning to sound a lot like the Tesla Roadster (whose buyers plonked down $38K deposits in 2017 for cars that still don’t exist), Spotify is improving what it offers. It’s just not improving the sound quality.

While Spotify Hi-Fi, Supremium, or whatever it ends up being called, is still in limbo, Spotify will launch ad-free video podcasts in January, and the firm notes that there are already 300,000 video podcast shows on the streaming service.

Opinion: Spotify doesn’t really care about music

Many years back, a music business expert told me that music companies didn’t care about music; they’d sell Brillo pads full of custard if that’s where the money was. And I’ve long thought the same about Spotify, whose CEO’s net worth (around $6.9 billion) is more than any musician who’s ever lived (Jay-Z is reportedly worth around $2.5 billion; Taylor Swift a relatively paltry $1.6 billion) and whose service stopped paying royalties to smaller artists earlier this…