Spotify expands massively, brings service to 80+ new markets

Spotify is about to become even bigger! Our favourite music streaming service held a massive event last night that highlighted some of the bigger changes and improvements coming to the service, yet perhaps the most exciting is how it’s expanding internationally. The app is broadening it’s audio range to 80+ new markets around the world, while adding 36 new languages for folks who might not want to browse their playlists in English. While we already have access to Spotify, it would be cool to see some new South African languages included, but for the rest of the world, it’s nice to know they’ll be able to get it on one of the best apps currently available (if you ask us).

Spotify confirmed that this move was the app’s largest and broadest market expansion to date, as it will be working with artists and performers to bring local content to a wider and more international market. It’s an exciting proposition for creators looking to expand their platform farther than their hometown.

“Our dedication to international artists and listeners is unwavering. Working closely with local creators and partners, we’ll deliver a Spotify experience that meets the unique needs of each market, with scaled language translations and specialized payment formats. These 80+ markets represent more than 1 billion people—potential Spotify listeners who have yet to tap into the power of our platform,” reads the blog post announcement of the expansion.

Spotify the difference

While this expansion is no doubt of great benefit to artists and creators, users of the app can look forward to a wide variety of new features and functions. The blog post mentions that over the next few months Spotify aims to bring a range of new features to new regions including:

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.*
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.

So what exactly are the new markets Spotify is expanding into? Well, we’ve got the full list here, also neatly highlighted in the announcement post: