SPOTIFY bills are set to become more expensive than ever amid reports the global streaming service is moving forward with its long-awaited “lossless” audio feature.
The new development was spotted by a reverse engineer who found multiple mentions of “lossless” in Wednesday’s build of the Spotify desktop app.
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These code snippets mainly refer to help cards that would appear to inform users about what the lossless tier offers and how to use or troubleshoot it.
It’s been more than four years since the company first announced its plans to launch a “lossless audio” tier that has yet to arrive.
While there have been numerous leaks and teases from company execs, this is the first sign the service is still under development.
Sites such as Tech Crunch are reporting that the code indicates the feature could even be getting closer to launch.
According Chris Messina, the engineer who uncovered the roll out, one card says, “Lossless music, now in premium,” while another describes it as the “best sound quality on Spotify for music in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz”.
Some of the cards warn users that particular songs aren’t available in lossless or when their device has bad connectivity, which could affect playback.
Another notes that lossless music is “best enjoyed on devices compatible with Spotify Connect and/or wired devices.”
In addition, Reddit user u/bendotlc noted that other changes were seen in the latest version of the mobile app, where the code now mentions lossless.
They wrote: “Say hello to the best sound quality on Spotify. Listen to high-fidelity music in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz.”
The user claimed the feature is actually present in the app, but is currently disabled.
Of course, code references don’t mean the lossless feature is coming anytime soon.
Leaks and code references have appeared before, and yet the high-quality audio tier never arrived.
When asked directly about lossless and other plans for premium tiers on recent earnings calls with investors, Spotify execs, including CEO Daniel Ek, would only hint that the company was investing in premium products for “super fans”.
They wouldn’t give a time frame on when these or any other higher-quality streaming options would finally launch.
Most recently, Spotify Chief Business Officer Alex Norstrom told investors on the Q1 2025 call that Spotify was still investing in more premium tiers.
“Now, with regards to higher tiers, we see great potential in them as we’ve mentioned before,” he said. “So creating higher tiers around new offerings is something we are working towards as it really opens up new opportunities to delight users.”
When Spotify first announced its plans for Spotify HiFi, as it was then called, in 2021, it said that the service would offer users music in “CD-quality, lossless audio format.”
It had run tests of a lossless option in the years before this, however.
Eventually, Spotify pointed to licensing issues as the reason for its delay in launching.
In what could be promising news on that front, the streamer signed new deals with labels including Warner Music and Universal Music Group in early 2025, which could pave the way for the lossless tier — or so music fans hope.
Bloomberg also reported earlier this year that a premium Music Pro tier would launch later in 2025, which would include high-quality streaming, remixing, and other features.
Spotify declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
How fraudsters use AI and bots to squeeze royalties out of Spotify, Deezer and the rest
Fraudsters are flooding Spotify, Apple Music and the rest with AI-generated tracks, to try and hoover up the royalties generated by people listening to them.
These tracks are cheap, quick and easy to make, with Deezer estimating in April that over 20,000 fully AI-created tracks – that’s 18% of new tracks – were being ingested into its platform daily, almost double the number in January.
The fraudsters often then use bots, AI or humans to endlessly listen to these fake songs and generate revenue, while others are exploiting upload services to get fake songs put on real artists’ pages and siphon off royalties that way.
Aurelien Herault, Chief Innovation Officer, Deezer, said: “AI generated content continues to flood streaming platforms like Deezer, and we see no sign of it slowing down.
“Generative AI has the potential to positively impact music creation and consumption, but we need to approach the development with responsibility and care in order to safeguard the rights and revenues of artists and songwriters, while maintaining transparency for the fans.
“Thanks to our cutting-edge tool we are already removing fully AI generated content from the algorithmic recommendations.”
