Spotify to Launch in 85 new Countries Including Nigeria

Spotify has revealed it is launching in 85 new markets over the next few days in areas that have the potential of engendering more than 1 billion potential new listeners.

The company made the disclosure on Monday at its Stream On event for creators and partners. The 85 new markets which include Nigeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh span Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

The company also tweeted about this significant development today.

The first tweet reads “You heard it from #BurnaBoy. We’ll be available in more of Africa very soon #SpotifyStreamOn“

The second tweet reads, “We launch in 80+ new markets over the next few days. See you soon Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria #SpotifyStreamOn“

In a related development, Spotify now supports more than 60 languages natively, after adding native support for 36 new languages.

Spotify is currently available in 93 markets after the company officially launched in South Korea, the world’s sixth-largest music market, on Feb. 1.

Spotify’s total footprint will cover 178 markets with the additional countries and territories, which the company says is its biggest concentrated market expansion to date.

Alex Norström, Spotify’s chief freemium business officer said, “Having more listeners on our platform creates more opportunities for artists and podcasters to make a living from their work. And more creators mean more audio content for our users to discover.

 “This creates an essential flywheel between creators and listeners that is the foundation of our business — and in the end, it is what will propel the audio industry forward.”

As of the fourth quarter of 2020, Spotify reported 345 million total monthly active listeners (up 27% for the year), including 155 million Premium subscribers (up 24%). The service offers more than 70 million individual tracks, including over 2 million podcast titles.

Here’s the full list of 85 new markets Spotify is launching in:

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.

Spotify said that its full global music catalog will be available in each of the new markets and the entire podcast catalog will be available in the majority of them.

In each new market, “we will work with local creators and partners to expand our music offerings and deliver a Spotify experience that meets the unique needs of each market,” Spotify said.

The company will make Free and Premium plans available across all the markets.