Spotify Hi-Res About to Happen?!?

[Todd Anderson]

Just got this message when I opened Spotify today…

 

[Todd Anderson]

Exciting!

 

[ddude003]

Hmmm... Not so fast... Hi-Res audio is digital audio that offers higher fidelity than a standard CD (16-bit/44.1 kHz), typically defined by a higher bit depth (like 24-bit) and sampling rate (like 96 kHz or 192 kHz)...

And Spotify is offering 24-bit at 44.1kHz... In my book that does not exactly qualify as Hi-Res... They missed the "and" part...

Oops, my bad... They call it "Lossless"...

 

[Todd Anderson]

Shucks.

Well, lossless is better than not lossless!

I'll bet a lot of this has to do with server costs on their end.

 

[ddude003]

The difference between 16 and 24 bits is 8 bits which means 1/3rd more storage space on the servers and more streaming bandwidth used...

 

[JStewart]

The 24bit 44.1kHz is better than CD quality so that’s ok in my book. There’s a lot of folks invested in Spotify so good for them.
For me the issue with Spotify remains the relatively low payments to the artists. Chat GPT put this table together:

I use data mostly from Duetti’s 2024 report (for several services) plus Qobuz’s own disclosed rate. These are averages and include both recording + publishing (when available).

Rank​	Service​	Avg payout per 1,000 streams (USD)​	% below highest service​
1	Qobuz	$18.73	0.00%
2	Amazon Music	$8.80	~53%
3	Apple Music	$6.20	~67%
4	Tidal	$6.80	~64%
5	YouTube (incl. Music / adjudged video‐streams for rights holders)	$4.80	~74%
6	Spotify	$3.00	~84%
7	Deezer	Not clearly in the Duetti top list with a distinct value in 2024; likely lower than Spotify in many cases. (Using older/other sources: ~$6.40 per 1,000 for certain contexts)	-

Notes / caveats:

• The “highest service” is Qobuz based on its own audited payout rate.
• The “% below highest” is calculated as (1 - \frac{\text{service payout}}{\text{top payout}}) × 100\%.
• Qobuz’s payout includes both recording & publishing to labels/publishers; the artist gets whatever their contract yields after that.
• Duetti’s report is especially focused on independent artists / master owners, so their averages may differ from “all artists” or “major label” contracts.
• Rates vary by country, subscription tier (paid vs ad), user’s location etc., so “per‐1,000” is just a rough way to compare.