I'm all aboard Spotify alternatives, but this post is an echo chamber of people that are far more likely to know "the difference". We aren't representative of Spotify's customer base.

Most people listening to music probably wouldn't be able tell the difference from cutting the quality down by double digit percentages. This is exemplified by the number of people using wireless headphones.

Spotify certainly could offer service on par with Tidal and similar, but being beholden to shareholders that only look at the bottom line and never the quality of the service, that executive might not be right, but they're not exactly wrong.