Spotify already has a solid foothold around the world, but it’s gearing up to grow even bigger. Over the coming days, the company confirmed (vaguely at first) plans to launch the platform in 85 new markets as part of a push to bring the service to “more than a billion” new users. And to ensure usability in all of these new markets, Spotify also officially added support for 36 new languages to its platform.
According to Alex Nörstrom, Spotify’s Chief Freemium Business officer, the company will expand into markets in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and he specifically called out Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria as areas of focus since they have the “fastest growing internet populations in the world.” (You can find the full list of new markets below.) The most notable omission on Spotify’s list is China, where it already has a partnership with Tencent Music — in other words, don’t hold your breath.
Right out of the gate, users in those new markets will have access to the service’s full global content library, and the company says the browse and search pages will “adapt to the local market and the listener’s taste the more they use the service.” From a deals perspective, Spotify also says it plans to work with local artists and rights holders to tailor and expand its library for each specific market. With all that said, the day one experience will differ from country to country — Nörstrom says some markets will launch with a "core library of features that will evolve over time" for the sake of speed, and that the company will adjust product decisions and investments as we go.”
The full list of new markets includes 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.
via https://AiUpNow.com February 22, 2021 at 12:48PM by , Khareem Sudlow,
