Spotify is expanding, with the streaming music service announcing plans to launch in 85 new markets – and 36 new languages – as international availability spreads. It’ll almost double the company’s service footprint, taking it to nearly 180 markets in total, and is the broadest expansion to-date, Spotify says.
It’ll mean Spotify will be available across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America/Caribbean. Keeping investors, happy, is just how many potential new customers that means: over a billion people who until now couldn’t officially sign up to Spotify, the company claims.
As with the existing locations, there’ll be both free and Premium subscription plans available, the former supported by advertising while the latter does away with that for a monthly fee. Exactly how much Spotify Premium will cost will depend on location. In some markets, Spotify says, it’ll also offer a choice of Individual, Family, Duo, and Student Plan options, which include things like service for multiple family members for a reduced overall cost.
The Spotify worldwide catalog will be available, and the company says that it will offer the full global catalog in the new markets. That’s in contrast to some streaming media services, particularly in video, where availability of content can vary dramatically depending on where you’re logging in from. What may not be so ubiquitous is Spotify’s podcast catalog, the company concedes, which, although fully available in some of the new markets, won’t necessarily be offered in all of them.
As you’d hope, Spotify will be working with local musicians and podcasts to bolster out its regional content. Initially, streaming will be available via the mobile apps and Spotify’s desktop software for PC and Mac. Other methods – like connected speakers, wearables, TV, and in the car – will apparently follow on in due course.
The announcement comes as Spotify reveals a new, lossless streaming option, Spotify HiFi. Set to be made available in select markets, to Spotify Premium subscribers, it’ll deliver CD-quality audio both to the company’s apps and to Spotify Connect-enabled speakers. Spotify says it’s also working with third-party connected speaker manufacturers to enable Spotify HiFi support on their hardware too.
New Spotify Markets:
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.