Spotify is slowly becoming a monopoly in the music streaming industry. The only thing that they have been missing is lossless audio formatting, or FLAC files. Only recently on September 10 did Spotify introduce lossless streaming to the platform. I have a few complaints about Spotify, especially regarding its AI usage and underpayment of artists. This new lossless formatting for premium users enables further monopolization of the platform, making users stick to it instead of using Tidal or other platforms that pride themselves on lossless audio.
Lossless audio is the most high-fidelity way to stream. It allows listeners to hear what is closest to the original version of the song without compression on any of the frequencies. The audio is left uncompromised, which is a big deal for audio engineers or music fans. Most streaming services use audio that can be listened to with poor internet, so the audio gets compromised. Lossless audio is primarily concerned with the sample rate. Explained simply, the sample rate is half of the sample rate and also the highest frequency the sample rate can produce. The most common sample rate is 44.1khz, and the human range of hearing is up to 20hz, so a sample rate of 44.1khz covers it. However, lossless audio is more complex than just the sample rate.
So if a sample rate of 44.1kHz just about covers our range of hearing, what is the point of this “lossless format”? Lossless audio can also be determined by the hardware being used by the listener, and most of the time, it is hard to tell the difference between real lossless audio and high-resolution audio. Sometimes the difference between 44.1k and anything greater than 44.1k is nearly indistinguishable to the ear. This depends on how developed your hearing is, or the capabilities of your devices. For example, an iPhone typically can only play audio up to 48kHz, while high-resolution masters can exceed up to 192kHz. The point of lossless audio is hearing it accurately, even if the difference isn’t super noticeable. As an aspiring audio engineer, training my ears to listen to specific frequencies is really important to me. Learning about these different frequencies by comparing lossy to lossless audio is another interesting way to explore this format.
In summary, don’t let streaming services take the cheap way out, especially Spotify. As a consumer, you deserve to purchase and listen to music at its original and best quality. You deserve every intended frequency in the music you consume. Spotify has, in many instances, taken the cheap way out, especially regarding the payment of artists, contributing a measly rate per stream of $0.003. The Spotify CEO is also unnecessarily fascinated with the promotion of AI-generated fake artists to continue to monopolize and generate revenue, which detracts from the work of real creatives. Spotify, only now introducing lossless formatting, showcases that their focus isn’t really on the consumer, but it also can’t be the artists, with the monetary choices made by the company. If you are a Spotify user, consider these things and don’t let a company like this, which is so commonly used, set a standard for what is acceptable.
