In the past few months, Apple Music added support for hi-res audio and Dolby Atmos at no extra cost to its subscribers, Amazon Music made its HD hi-res audio tier free to all Amazon Music users and Tidal gained a new owner in Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder and CEO of Square.
Where does this leave Spotify, the most widely-adopted music-subscription platform despite an April 2021 price-hike – and a long-awaited Spotify HiFi tier that is yet to materialise?
Well, according to Californian subscription-based tech news site, The Information, Spotify could actually be turning its attention away from the hi-res streaming price war and shifting its focus towards hosting live events.
At the end of May, Spotify launched a five-strong in-app paid-for virtual concert series and the fresh report suggests that the Swedish streaming giant is exploring not only expanding on its virtual events series (which kicked off with the Black Keys on 27th May, costing $15 to live-stream) but possibly live, in-person events as well. "People familiar with the situation" told The Information that when considering a serious entry to the events business, Spotify would leverage the rich data from its platform to help acts prep and stage virtual and maybe even live concerts.
As noted by 9to5Mac, if the move takes off it could mean a separate source of income for Spotify (which recently invested heavily in podcasting) and of course, a way to differentiate itself from arch-rival Apple Music.
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