Tag: Gautam Talwar

Spotify’s GM of Asia Pacific, Gautam Talwar, Discusses the Music of a Rapidly Growing Region

October 17, 2023

The Asia Pacific region seems to never sleep on Spotify. From events celebrating Kalye HipHop, our flagship Pinoy hip-hop playlist, to the tenth anniversary of Spotify in Taiwan, we’ve spent a decade developing relevant products and content offerings to deepen our connection with local users. And our work is just getting started.  

This week, Gautam Talwar, Spotify’s General Manager of Asia Pacific, is joining artists and podcasters at SXSW Sydney, the first time the festival has been staged outside of its Austin, Texas, home base. Via panels and performances on everything from music discovery to what’s next for K-Pop— and how we continue to strive for gender equity—we’ll highlight how Spotify helps music move beyond borders at the iconic Lansdowne Hotel.

For the Record sat down with Gautam to learn more about what’s happening in the region. 

What are some factors that make the Asia Pacific region, APAC, a distinct and notable market for Spotify?

Asia Pacific is increasingly central to our global platform as a driving post for global culture—whether music, entertainment, fashion, gaming, technology, or e-commerce. And the region as a whole is one of our fastest-growing regions at Spotify today. There’s three main reasons for that. 

One is that these countries have large youthful populations. You’re talking about one of the largest clusters of Gen Z customers in the world, over 150 million Gen Zs residing in Asia Pacific who are driving this booming creator economy and online music culture. 

The other thing that makes it very unique is diversity. This is our superpower. There’s incredible diversity across languages, religions, and ethnicities. We also see this diversity play out in music and culture. Music is a very central, core part of expression. And since music has an important role of soundtracking daily life in Asia Pacific, music is a reflection of diversity in this region.

The third thing that makes it very unique is artists and creators. We are talking about an incredibly diverse group of genres and artists that are now crossing borders and building an international audience, all thanks to Spotify. We have some great examples of artists born in Asia, who maybe got their footing in Seoul, Sydney, or Jakarta, who have now crossed borders, gone overseas, and built a global audience. 

What trends are emerging globally with music from the region? 

Spotify has evolved from bringing all the world’s audio to Asia Pacific to taking all the audio from Asia Pacific to the world. 

When I joined Spotify about five years ago, the top charts in most of our Asian markets had mostly international music. Today when I look, it’s increasingly local. It’s increasingly K-Pop. And we’re also seeing some regional and hyper-local artists and genres making it to the top. We are seeing artists from all corners of our countries who are working to build an audience on Spotify. We have examples of not only those who are topping charts in their home country, but who are crossing borders to top charts elsewhere.

K-Pop is one of my favorite examples. Traditionally, the home of K-Pop is Seoul. But if you look at the genre’s top markets, it’s actually the United States, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Mexico where streaming is outsizing Korea. Similarly, Mandopop, which was born out of Taiwan and China, ends up traveling to all parts of the world where the Chinese diaspora resides—Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the U.S. We’re seeing this in Aussie music as well, with names like Tones and I, The Kid LAROI, and Troye Sivan finding big audiences in the U.K. and the United States. 

But then there’s country-specific trends, like hyperlocal pop with Javanese Pop in Indonesia and LukThung in Thailand. The countries have rich, vibrant, local ecosystems and creators with big fans on social media. They don’t have to be in a metro region to build a career, but rather could be in any part of the country. Their fandoms help them not only drop music on Spotify but then promote it across social media. Artists care about their expression, they care about their sound, and the story. And what we’re seeing is that great songwriting and storytelling wins. And thanks to the personalization of the Spotify platform and its global distribution, there are numerous examples of artists’ finding an audience outside of their home country. We’re seeing waves. 

Fandoms are a key part of music in the region. How do we embrace and reflect this passion?

Our growth story in the region has always been built on supporting a set of fandoms and really using Spotify as a way for fans to channel and fuel their passions around these fandoms. In many ways, we’ve evolved from marketing to consumers to speaking to and through fans. 

We have a fairly strong presence and investment in K-Pop discovery on the platform. We have a K-Pop hub with a flagship playlist, K-Pop ON! It contains the latest and greatest in K-Pop. It’s what RapCaviar is to hip-hop and Viva Latino is to Latin music. This is for the global K-Pop community of artists and fans. It’s the mothership. It’s where you’ll discover the next big thing on the platform. 

We’ve also evolved this playlist, taking it off-platform to build a strong media network around it, with a YouTube channel, Twitter handle, and Instagram and TikTok distribution. For our fans, it’s really about being very playful and helping create opportunities that let them get closer to their favorite artists. Our storytelling approach is very much speaking to and through fans. They get up close and personal and see artists in their most playful states. And they’re loving it. 

One of the activations we did this year was Bunnyland. NewJeans is a rookie band, a year old, and they’re already commanding an audience as big as BLACKPINK. They are Gen Z, five girls, all incredibly creative and musically strong.  For their debut album release, we created an activation involving a real-life immersive fan experience for called Bunnyland. We had about 100,000 attendees across Bunnyland activations in Seoul, Jakarta, as well as Manila and Tokyo and heavily supported their U.S. debut at Lollapalooza.  So for us it’s about showing up every day, both with playlists and with iconic big-beat moments. 

We’ve also got ideas for how to do this with T-Pop, particularly with the strength of the Boys’ Love fandom, and in Australia, with A1 hip-hop—Aussie hip-hop. This subculture is very strong locally, and I’m very excited about how we’ve taken it to the main stage. 

How about podcasting? 

This is an exciting region for podcasts due to its history of talk radio. Today, markets like Australia, Indonesia, and India are some of the top markets for podcast listening. There’s been a lot of early adopters in this market, especially in Indonesia and the Philippines. When Anchor, now Spotify for Podcasters, launched, we saw radio personalities and social media personalities rally to it as an easy means to express themselves and get onto an audio platform. That has increasingly been going mainstream since.

In Indonesia and the Philippines we’re also seeing a whole new breed of creators who believe in long form as a means of storytelling. (There are some really big commutes in those countries, and podcasts play a role there). The big genres are comedy, horror, and crime, and the audiences tend to be more educated, more affluent, more curious about what’s out in the zeitgeist. Love and relationships is another one—people can use podcasts as a format to talk about subject matter that the mainstream wouldn’t talk about. 

Australia, too, has a very rich podcast ecosystem. We are a lead player there with a thriving ad sales operation. We have a number of original and licensed tentpole shows, both Aussie and American, that really do well. We also just announced the introduction in Australia of our premium audiobook offer. This makes available at least 150,000 audiobooks as part of Spotify Premium subscriptions—something that’s going to be huge in the market. 

What are you most excited to bring to SXSW Sydney?

I’m excited about the platform South By presents for us. It’s at the cutting edge of tech and innovation. It’s one of the most exciting congregations of the sharpest creative minds in the industry. And what I’m excited about is how we are really showcasing our diversity as Spotify, and the things that we are really passionate about, be it our EQUAL or RADAR programs, and how they elevate discovery for artists. 

I’m excited about showcasing artists from multiple genres, everyone from MILLI, one of my favorite Thai hip-hop stars, to, you know, some of the most exciting acts in Korean music and Korean hip-hop.

It’s interesting that Sydney is where the first edition of South By is happening outside of Austin. Sydney is home to musicians, artists, and designers, and there’s a lot of commonalities between Sydney and Austin. I’m hoping to see this become a returning franchise that we can become a part of. 

Hear more from Gautam about our presence at SXSW Sydney on the Spotify: For the Record podcast.

New and Existing Telkomsel Customers Can Now Get Three Months of Spotify Premium at No Charge

August 25, 2020

Spotify and Telkomsel, the largest wireless network provider in Indonesia, are teaming up for an offer that’s music to everyone’s ears. For the first time ever, new and existing postpaid Telkomsel customers can get three months of Spotify Premium on us—no credit card required. 

Eligible Telkomsel customers who sign up through their KartuHalo Telkomsel bills will have access to all the features Spotify Premium users around the world know and love for the first three months, including offline downloads, unlimited skips, and ad-free streaming of more than 50 million tracks with no data charges. 

“At Spotify, we believe all audio fans should have control of their listening experience and easy access to their favorite music and podcasts wherever they are,” said Gautam Talwar, Spotify’s Managing Director of Southeast Asia. “Through this partnership with Indonesia’s biggest mobile operator, we can enable millions of Indonesians nationwide who don’t use credit cards to sign up for a three-month trial of Spotify Premium.”

The two companies have partnered since 2019—the deal allows Telkomsel postpaid and select prepaid customers to stream Spotify without being charged for data. Listeners who opt in for this latest offer will also be able to take advantage of the added bonus.

After the three-month trial ends, customers can continue their Spotify Premium subscriptions for 53,459 IDR a month and pay through their existing Telkomsel postpaid plans. That means one convenient bill for your wireless service plus access to all your favorite songs and podcasts at your fingertips. Now that’s a win-win.

New and existing postpaid Telkomsel customers can sign up now for three months of Spotify Premium on us at no charge. And check out the Musik Indonesia Hub to discover playlists, new releases, and more coming out of the country.

5 Questions (And Answers) with Gautam Talwar, Managing Director, Spotify Southeast Asia

May 10, 2019

Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing and most diverse music markets in the world. From the explosion of K-Pop to the rabid obsession with Taylor Swift in the Philippines, music lovers of Asia are creating and embracing a wide range of trends.

We sat down with Gautam Talwar, our Managing Director of Southeast Asia, in our Singapore office to learn more about the differences in music tastes and streaming habits throughout the region—as well as the opportunities that lie ahead.

Tell us about your professional background, particularly your work in entertainment, and how that prepared you for this role.

I grew up in India and have spent a lot of time both in the US and in Asia. Living and working in both the East and West has had a huge influence on how I look at Southeast Asia and its growing impact on the world. For example, while at Disney in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Los Angeles, I learned that the entertainment business is similar in many ways across the globe. Brilliant storytelling and great songwriting wins out, no matter where you’re from or what device you’re on.

What makes Southeast Asia a unique market, from both a business and consumer standpoint?

What makes Southeast Asia unique, apart from its diverse geography and cultures, is its size and streaming potential. It’s one of the most populous regions in the world, with over 600 million people—nearly 10% of the world’s population. Indonesia alone is the fourth most populated country in the world (just behind the United States). In a word, huge.

What’s also different is that the smartphone has become the first screen for many, but millions of people are limited by their devices, their data plans, and their network conditions. So helping them conveniently get their favourite content is a big focus.

The key to bringing Spotify to audiences across the region is our ability to hyper-localise the experience and ensure users can enjoy our app, regardless of the mobile device they own. Relevant payment options and regional telco partners are also critical.

How would you characterize users’ streaming habits in your region?

Southeast Asia’s smartphone audience is one of the largest globally, but music streaming is only just taking hold. With less than 20% of the region’s users streaming music, there’s a massive opportunity and potential for growth.

That said, it’s a nuanced situation, with music streaming at different stages across the region. In the Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong (where Spotify has been for some time), for instance, streaming is a way of life. In fact, Quezon City in the Philippines has the biggest concentration of Taylor Swift fans on Spotify out of any city in the world. And other countries are catching up fast—like Indonesia, where we launched three years ago, and Thailand and Vietnam, where we rolled out in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Across Southeast Asia, there’s a pattern with much of the growth starting off with young music fans in the major cities, then moving outside of the urban areas.

However, the bedrock of our popularity across Southeast Asia is our users’ ability to choose between free and paid options. Spotify was built on the belief that music should be available to everyone, everywhere, no matter who or where you are. It’s what the emergence of music piracy dictated, it’s what drove the industry to embrace radical change, and it’s Spotify’s recognition of this change and ability to turn it into a positive force for fans and artists that makes us unique.  

How is the music of Southeast Asia transcending boundaries and reaching people around the world?

Spotify makes music available to anyone, instantly – as a result, more and more Asian music is being discovered by our 217 million-plus users across the globe every day.  For example, our top Asian playlists continue to gain popularity, with K-Pop Daebak (close to 2 million followers) and our OPM (Original Pilipino Music) playlist Tatak Pinoy (more than 1 million followers), now go-to destinations for fans everywhere.

Additionally, the explosion of K-Pop on the world scene is one of the biggest genre breakouts of recent years, and undoubtedly the most influential Asian genre to hit the global mainstream. Just last month both BTS and BLACKPINK hit their highest-ever Spotify global chart positions. BTS was also the very first Asian artist to hit the 5 billion streaming mark.

The success of K-Pop has alerted millions of music fans outside of Asia to a new world of music. It’s a trend that will only continue to grow over time as artists realise that the opportunity to get their music heard outside their own country and significantly increase their reach has never been greater. And it’s not just K-Pop breaking Asian boundaries, either. We’re also seeing the rise of a variety of local and regional genres, from Thai rock to Indopop and OPM.

Can you give us a sense of what’s on the horizon and the opportunities ahead for your region?

The March announcement that Spotify will come pre-installed on Samsung devices was one of the more exciting developments in our region, given Samsung’s popularity here. Also, we’re continuing to improve our lyrics functionality on mobile across Asia, as our audience is intensely passionate about lyrics. At the same time, we’re looking at a wide variety of ways to improve the Spotify experience for users.  

Our flagship live entertainment tour, Spotify on Stage, which has seen us bring some of the biggest local and international artists to Asia, returns this year and will be bigger and better than ever. Stay tuned for more news on this in the coming months.

Stream K-Pop Daebak to get a taste of the genre’s global explosion. Also check out Gautam’s Tastebreakers playlist, which spans several genres, including classical, acoustic guitar, and electronic music.