While new features within Spotify and its Anchor subsidiary get most of the attention among the ream of announcements in the company’s “Stream On” presentation, the expansionary push into new regions around the world might be the most eye-opening, certainly is the most ear-obtaining, and could be described as the most imperialistic.
Spotify is stretching its signal into over 80 new markets in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America. The present-tense announcement headline makes it sound as if Spotify is throwing the switch in all those countries right now, but the language of the write-up puts it in the future (“Working closely with local creators and partners, we’ll deliver a Spotify experience that meets the unique needs of each market…” and “As we enter new markets…”).
Whenever the new footprint is completed, Spotify is emphasizing two key numbers:
- The audio platform will be available in over 170 regions
- Total reach will exceed one-billion people.
Other key facts about the expanded-reach offering:
- Plans: Free and Premium plans will be available across all the markets. In select markets, Spotify will offer Individual, Family, Duo, and Student Plan options. (On this point, Spotify footnotes that “some exceptions may apply).
- User Experience: Listeners will be able to select and search from Spotify’s worldwide catalog when using the product, providing a personalized experience from day one. The home screen will surface personalized playlist programming for new listeners. The browse and search pages will feature worldwide content hubs, and adapt to the local market and the listener’s taste the more they use the service.
- Music Catalog: At launch, Spotify will offer its full global catalog in these new markets. The company will continuously work with local rights holders and partners to expand its catalog to include more local offerings.
- Podcasts: In the majority of these markets, Spotify will launch with its full podcast catalog.* For the others, it will work closely with local partners to introduce more podcasts from its catalog, as well as Spotify’s proprietary creator platform, Anchor.
- Platforms: Upon launch, the Spotify experience will be available on Mobile and Desktop Web Player.* Similar to other features, the company will work with partners to introduce Spotify on more platforms, including TV, Speakers, Wearables, and Car in the coming months.
Here is the alphabetized cluster of countries that have (or will soon have) Spotify:
Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Curaçao, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
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