What is the Spotify Supremium plan?

Whereas Spotify is definitely the world’s hottest on-demand music service, the corporate has been oddly gradual to compensate for among the choices accessible from its rivals. It’s rumored that the hole may lastly shut with an upcoming “Supremium” plan. So what’s Spotify Supremium, precisely, and the way is it prone to stack up towards options?

Allegedly, Supremium would be the ultimate identify of HiFi, a lossless audio plan that Spotify first teased in February 2021. The tier was initially resulting from launch by the tip of 2021, however the firm then went mysteriously silent. By January 2022 it was compelled to confess that it didn’t have a agency launch window. It was solely in March 2023 that Spotify president Gustav Söderström confirmed that some type of HiFi was nonetheless alive, explaining to The Verge that “The business modified and we needed to adapt.”

The “Supremium” identify comes from a September 2023 Reddit leak and an October 2023 Threads publish by well-known blogger Chris Messina. Spotify has but to verify that branding, or announce another particulars, akin to a brand new launch date. Every thing we all know to date is predicated on rumors and Spotify’s 2021 objectives.

Supremium’s signature function ought to, after all, be 24-bit lossless audio. Whereas we’re unsure what codec(s) Supremium will help, going lossless ought to permit folks with high-end audio system or headphones to listen to tracks in the very best high quality. Spotify is claimed to be taking pictures for zero lag — realistically although you’ll in all probability need to be on Wi-Fi or utilizing offline caching, since lossless might be extraordinarily demanding on bandwidth, and will simply blow by means of mobile knowledge caps once they’re not limitless.

One other marquee function may very well be AI-generated playlists based mostly on prompts. Little is understood about this, however Spotify did lately companion with OpenAI on podcast translation, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to think about a ChatGPT-like pure language interface. Hypothetically you possibly can ask for a “creepy ambient playlist for Halloween” and get a playlist with darkish ambient artists like Lustmord and Raison d’être.

Adjoining to AI could also be further mixing instruments for playlists, for example letting you set monitor order in response to BPM. A “sensible order” function might robotically rearrange issues based mostly on key and tempo, and you may additionally be capable to filter by style and temper. Cue factors may very well be accessible for smoother track transitions.

Subsequent on the roster is as much as 30 hours of audiobook entry. That will be a rise from the 15 hours at present accessible to Premium subscribers within the U.Ok. and Australia, and solely resulting from attain the US by the tip of 2023. Each choices may pose a menace to Amazon’s Audible, which nonetheless guidelines on-line audiobooks.

Lastly, Supremium clients could possibly filter their total library by temper, exercise, or style, in addition to get a “Soundcheck” that analyzes their listening habits and identifies their distinctive tastes. That’s one other space the place particulars are obscure, however conjecturing, it’d enable you uncover when you’re subconsciously into genres like goth, energy metallic, or J-pop.

How a lot does the Spotify Supremium plan price?

The present rumor is that it’ll be $19.99 US, presumably for a single listener. That’s seemingly correct, given comparable choices elsewhere, and the truth that an current Premium Particular person plan is $10.99.

It’s anticipated that there may even be Duo and Household variations of Supremium, enabling two or six listeners, respectively. Premium Duo is $4 greater than typical, whereas Premium Household is $6 increased, so search for comparable worth jumps with Supremium.

The obvious level of comparability is Tidal’s HiFi Plus plan, which begins at $19.99 for people and consists of not simply lossless audio however help for a number of spatial audio codecs, specifically Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Actuality Audio. It’s unclear whether or not or not Supremium may have spatial audio, nevertheless it’s exhausting to think about Spotify foregoing that bulletpoint given the competitors and its business clout. Another Tidal perks embody music movies and Tidal Join, an equal of Spotify Join.

A more durable problem may come from Amazon Music Limitless. That service begins at simply $10.99 monthly, or $8.99 if you have already got Amazon Prime. It solely gives a subset of tracks in lossless high quality, although it does help Dolby Atmos or Sony 360 Actuality Audio. There’s no equal of Spotify Join, however fortunately the service robotically works on any speaker with Amazon Alexa, and extra through Google Forged.

The final huge service to match is Apple Music. That one has its total catalog accessible in lossless when you subscribe to the $10.99 Particular person tier or higher. Spatial audio is on the market, although solely through Dolby Atmos. There are some distinctive perks right here, akin to a devoted Classical app and the power to add to native recordsdata for cloud entry. The massive catch, as you may think, is that whereas it helps platforms like Android, Alexa, and Google Nest, you’ll solely get probably the most out of it when you have an Apple machine.

It’s value noting that whereas all the above providers have curated playlists, and/or playlists based mostly on latest habits and adopted artists, none of them have something generated from ChatGPT-style prompts. That will be a primary within the business, and may very well be a giant promoting level for Supremium if it really works nicely and isn’t only a gimmick.