- Spotify is ‘doubling’ on his music offering in 2025, says CEO Daniel Ek
- That may include a long-awaited hi-fi level to super-fans and audiophiles
- Critics of Spotify’s payment model say things could get worse for artists
Spotify plans to “double down” on his music offering after reporting his first year ever profit-but what does that mean exactly to subscribers?
As reported by Variety, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek praised his company’s performance in an earning call this week and said “Spotify is not only a great product – it’s now also a big business,” “we will double down on Music in 2025, and I personally am very excited about it.
These days, music flow service can boast millions of new active users.
Analyst Jeff Wlodarczak expects Spotify’s operating margins to only rise further this year, with increasing subscriber growth along with the company’s tighter revenue strategies.
Doubling music could Be a good thing for subscribers if they finally get a Spotify Hi-Fi level to access, loss-free sound-matching tides or Apple Music-as the company has been promising for years.
I would expect it would be a little more expensive than the current premium plan that comes at $ 11.99 / £ 11.99 / AU $ 13.99 for an individual and albums before other users or enjoying more personally curated playlists. It is probably an easy way for Spotify to make money on heavy users while removing a big reason to switch to another lossless audio platform.
Spotify has focused a lot on his podcast business in recent years, possibly to the detriment of his music offering, but this latest pronunciation from EK suggests that hi-fi level can finally happen in 2025. It can also mean we are getting a Cheaper, music – -cun level that was teased back in 2024.
But is it all the story here?
Where is the money going?
It’s been a big year for Spotify, but not all its surplus success comes down to increased subscribers.
The company also set aside 20% of its workforce in 2024 in an attempt to gain tighter control over its finances and introduced a few other cost -saving measures that some consider to have been transferred to artists and musicians to carry.
At the beginning of 2024, Spotify decided that artists who attracted fewer than 1,000 streams a month through its platform would no longer make money. Given that artists only receive $ 0.004 per Power, or $ 4 per A thousand streams, it may seem like a small amount per Person, but it also represents a huge cash grip away from those who are already struggling to get any income from the service.
There also reported from last year when he claimed that Spotify filled out your recommendations with ‘False Artists’ from production companies that didn’t need the same level of royalties – effectively filled playlists with sawdust so you didn’t notice the lack of bread.
Another feature called Discovery Mode also invites artists to reduce Their earnings in exchange for being algorithmically pushed to more users.
Measures like these have helped Spotify move with confidence in the green, but its plans to further increase its margin of profit in 2025 – already built on reduced payments for artists – is a real cause for concern.
This was the first year that Spotify wrapped up included an AI resume of the user’s listening habits, and as AI music becomes more widespread, there is a very real fear that this may be the next step in helping to do Spotify more profitable and offer generated music that does not do it requires payment at all as part of different surrounding music slopes that replace streams from artists to be paid.
I fully think that Spotify will “double down” on music — but I hope it means to help me double down on the real artists I like, not Spotify who doubles by bringing his own cheap music in to help keep the profits high.