More than halfway through 2025, Spotify and other Western music streaming platforms have yet to launch a much-anticipated “superfan” or “super-premium” tier, prompting questions about the delays and speculation about what features will be bundled together in a higher-priced offering.
One option was ruled out on Wednesday (Sept. 11) when Spotify announced the arrival of high-quality, lossless audio as a standard perk for subscribers. Named HiFi, the audio offering was first announced in 2020 but was rarely mentioned by Spotify executives in the years since. A few years ago, HiFi might have seemed like a sensible part of a high-priced tier targeted at super-users. But today, better audio quality has become a regular feature rather than a separate perk. Amazon Music began offering lossless audio in 2019 for no extra charge with the launch of Amazon Music HD. Apple Music did the same when it debuted Dolby Atmos with Spatial Audio in 2021.
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A topic of conversation for years, superfan streaming has picked up interest in recent years as labels and streaming platforms seek to offset slowing streaming growth in much of the world. Streaming revenue exploded during the pandemic and maintained momentum from platforms’ price increases. That double-digit growth has faded lately, though. RIAA midyear figures released on Tuesday (Sept. 9) showed that U.S. subscription revenue grew 6.3% from the prior-year period, while free streaming fell 2.9%.
Companies began teasing superfan tiers in 2024. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek went from a brief mention of the word “superfan” last year to “playing around” with a prototype in February. And Universal Music Group (UMG) has been talking about superfan streaming tiers since last year; in March, UMG chief digital officer Michael Nash said the company was in talks with all its streaming partners — not just Spotify — about super-premium tiers.
Given the vast number of superfans in existence, offering the same service to all subscribers is effectively leaving money on the table. There were approximately 820 million subscribers worldwide at the end of 2024, according to MIDiA Research, and a 20% conversion rate would produce more than 160 million potential superfan subscribers. Notably, Luminate estimates that superfans — defined as people who follow an artist and their content in five or more ways — comprise 18% of U.S. music listeners and are more tolerant of price increases than the general population.
But after all the public statements, Spotify and other Western streaming platforms have yet to launch a superfan tier. In fact, the wait could be longer than expected. In August, Spotify chief business officer Alex Nordström said as much when he emphasized the company’s high standards for new product launches. “We’re making progress, for sure, but it’s taking time,” he said.
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The only superfan streaming product on the market comes from China’s Tencent Music Entertainment (TME). Its Super VIP tier, which costs about five times as much as a standard subscription, offers high-quality audio, early access to concert tickets, exclusive digital album downloads and collectible merchandise. As of June 30, TME had more than 15 million Super VIP subscribers, accounting for 12% of all subscribers.
There’s a long list of remaining features that could find their way into Western streaming platforms’ superfan products, numerous experts tell Billboard, including early access to music, concert tickets, merchandise, deep-from-the-vaults recordings, non-music content from artists and exclusive access to artists through virtual meet-and-greets with fans.
Market research firm MusicWatch has surveyed consumers about their interest in different streaming service features. While the survey did not ask about superfan tiers or a willingness to pay extra, the results showed that consumers are most interested in high-quality audio, early access to concert tickets through the streaming app, original version of songs and discounts on artist-related merchandise, according to MusicWatch principal Russ Crupnick. Exclusive music, early access to music and live streams also ranked high.
Similarly, MIDiA Research surveys have found that early access to music and concert tickets offered by a favorite artist is the most in-demand feature for a monthly subscription service. “This makes sense to me,” says Tatiana Cirisano, MIDiA’s vp of music strategy. “In a world where music and social media content from artists is ubiquitous and available for free, value is reassigned to getting exclusive or early access to things which are scarcer.” Behind-the-scenes content scored worse, probably because fans are already awash in such videos on social media, she adds.
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Fans have already shown they are willing to spend dearly on their favorite artists. In-demand concert tickets can easily range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, and an official T-shirt can easily fetch more than $50. Streaming, in comparison, costs approximately $130 annually. “IRL is where most of the superfan value lies,” says Vickie Nauman of music consultancy CrossBorderWorks.
But whether the perk is digital, physical or experiential, experts say that many possible components of a superfan streaming tier come with concerns, questions, logistical hurdles or practical problems.
While streaming platforms can ingest huge amounts of music and cater to the interests of hundreds of millions of listeners, real-world perks don’t scale as well, says Nauman. A virtual meet-and-greet with an artist, for example, is a bespoke event — an awkward fit for a platform built on equal access to music. What’s more, artists may not want to invest time into superfan perks. “Artists are already supposed to engage fans on social media, apps, email, live and through labels,” she says, “and really they just want to be artists.”
Many of these possible superfan perks would also necessitate negotiation with new parties. For more than two decades, streaming platforms have had two main counter-parties: record labels and music publishers. The two sides negotiate licensing deals that allow platforms to offer unlimited access to huge catalogs of music. Offering perks related to merchandise, tickets, meet-and-greets or live streams would require negotiations with countless artist managers and require unique licensing agreements.
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Merchandise has a couple of advantages, though, says Andrew Stess, CEO of StessCo Consulting Group. “I think that that’s something that probably is easier to negotiate, and you could have global parity,” he says. But concert tickets, a perk frequently given to credit card customers, would require more difficult negotiations and present logistical hurdles, Stess adds. “It’s very difficult to do, especially globally. I think there would be a lot of one-offs,” he says — as opposed to ticket offerings that satisfy a wide swath of fans. Giving fans the ability to remix tracks is an interesting possibility, he adds, and there are already numerous startups in the space.
Offering superfan subscribers exclusive music, or early access to music, could also be problematic, as both would break with longstanding tradition. Streaming exclusives were once common but became rarer after Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge ended the practice in 2016. Instead, record labels and streaming platforms typically have a single release date for new albums, which maximizes first-week performance and also limits any piracy that would arise from staggered release dates.
Giving superfan subscribers early access to some recordings could also alienate some customers, notes Cirisano. “There’s also the worry that current subscribers will be upset if they feel something is being taken away from them — giving higher-tier subscribers earlier access equates to current subscribers feeling like they have late access.”
Potential problems with superfan offerings extend all the way to re-teaching people how to use the app. Consumers have grown accustomed to all-you-can-eat subscription platforms that integrate music, podcasts and sometimes audiobooks and videos. New features can be integrated into the apps, but consumers will be required to engage differently, “so this is not a small lift,” says Nauman.
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At worst, a superfan who’s tuned into their favorite artist won’t see the value in some perks. “’Why would I pay extra for this when I’m already really wired into the artists?’” says Crupnick. “’I know where I can get merch. I go to their shows. I know where I can get tickets.’”
Ultimately, Crupnick adds, streaming platforms will need to decide which type of person they want to target. A superfan spends money on tickets, merch and music. The “superstreamer” simply streams the most music.
Whichever products eventually see the light of day will reflect the type of consumer the streaming platform is targeting. Being a superfan goes well beyond streaming a favorite artist’s music; it also means attending concerts, buying merchandise and following artists outside of a streaming app. But streaming platforms could simply target superstreamers and focus on the streaming experience. Of course, if the answer for how to effectively target music’s most avid consumers was straightforward, there would probably be more superfan offerings on the market today.
