Spotify, the world’s most popular music streaming platform, is now available in 86 new countries across the world.
(deep breath) Here’s the full list: 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.
That’s more than a billion more people—the streamer’s biggest expansion to date. To accommodate, the streamer has added 36 new languages to the platform.
“This expansion will help ensure that sounds and stories that once remained local can reach a global audience,” said Spotify in a statement.
According to a statement, Spotify is working closely with local creators and partners to meet the unique needs of each market, while also having scaled language translations and specialized payment formats that fit the payment culture of each country.
This move works in the other direction too—all of the Spotify users in other countries will now be able to tap into the rich music cultures of each of those countries, with a lot more music from those countries soon to come to the platform. They’ll also be working with local creatives from these countries to find them a bigger audience.
“All this untapped music energy and access to our innovative creator tools will help propel artists to new heights and empower them to turn their passion into a profession,” said Spotify.
The move could also cause genres and cultures to collide like never before, as Spotify’s unmatched discovery possibilities could lead to musicians in new places finding music they’ve never heard before.
Free and premium plans will be available in each of the 86 markets, with select markets getting individual, family, duo and student plan options.
The full global catalog will be available at launch, with more music from those individual markets to come. Its podcast catalogue will available and expanded similarly. Both mobile and desktop is available at launch, with other platforms to come.
Spotify launched in 13 countries across the Arabic-speaking MENA region in late 2018.
Esquire now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit ‘Like’ on our Esquire Facebook page and ‘Follow’ on our @esquiremiddleeast Instagram and Twitter account.
.jpg)
