Quiz: This Week on ‘For the Record’
Tag: market launch
Spotify Launches in South Korea
Today, Spotify is launching in the sixth-largest music market in the world: South Korea.* Koreans can now access over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists from around the world, as well as enjoy personalized music recommendations and discover new music. Music lovers in Korea can stream Spotify’s broad music catalogue, spanning everything from the country’s own K-Pop to Latin American reggaeton, European electronic, and beyond.
Korea’s launch brings Spotify’s global footprint to 93 markets and is a critical next step in our global expansion journey. “We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and South Korea is rich in both,” says Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer, Spotify. “This launch presents a massive opportunity for us to not only further our mission of bringing new and quality content to more audiences, but also help local Korean artists tap into Spotify’s 320 million listeners worldwide. We hope to create more opportunities for Korean artists across all genres to be discovered by listeners around the world.”
Since we debuted our first K-Pop playlist in 2014, the share of K-Pop listening on Spotify has increased by more than 2,000%—but music in Korea spans far beyond K-Pop. As a part of today’s launch, we’re introducing a range of new playlists made exclusively for South Korea. These curated collections offer the latest music from our team of Korean music experts across some of the most popular genres. Get ready for:
- TOP Playlists: Korean Music Hot Now, FRESH! New Music Korea, Hot Hits Korea, Korean Music Rising, Today’s Drama OST Hot Now, K-Pop Daebak and more
- Genre Playlists: TrenChill K-R&B, TrenChill K-Hip Hop, K-HIP-HOP +82, K-Are & Be, In The K-Indie, Korean City Pop, K-Rock Spirit, Folk & Acoustic Hot Now, Orchestra Korean Ballad and more
- Thematic Playlists: You Did Well, The End of the Day, So Cool Driving, Brain Rest 432Hz, Lullaby zZZ, Transcendental Game Play, Running K-Pop, GAYO Instrumentals, Spring Music, Into the Rain, Next Page of the Break-up, Kitchen Melodies and more
- ‘Starring’ playlists: This Is BTS, This Is BLACKPINK, This Is Stray Kids, This Is NCT, This Is TWICE, This is Taeyeon, This Is JAY Park, This Is CHUNG HA, This Is Loco and more
Spotify Is Now Available in Russia, Croatia, Ukraine, and 10 Other European Markets
Today, Spotify launched in 13 new markets across Europe, bringing the total number of markets to 92. Now, listeners in Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Ukraine can enjoy a listening experience that includes 50 million tracks, 4 billion playlists, and localized music personalization features.
Our expansion in Europe comes as consumers in the region embrace streaming. Russia in particular is one of the world’s top 20 largest streaming markets—and this launch opens the door for nearly 250 million fans to start discovering new music from their countries and around the world. Newcomers from these 13 markets will join Spotify’s existing 286 million listeners and 130 million Premium subscribers, so it’s also a huge moment for artists who will be able to engage with more fans than ever in an increasingly connected world.
The Top Music from Spotify’s First Week in India
Last week, we brought Spotify to music lovers in India, the world’s second-most-populous country. Since then, more than one million unique users there have registered for the app. They’ve started to explore an improved experience finely tuned for them with free on-demand content for all, personalization (including many different language options), and multi-platform play.
So what are our newest users streaming? We checked out their top artists, songs, editorial playlists, and genres. What we found is that Indians are starting off strong by listening to musicians and tracks from around the globe, with 68 percent of artists in the top 50 hailing from somewhere other than India. Although the top-streamed songs represent music from around the world, the most-searched artists tend to be local. The top playlists compromise a blend of languages, resembling the diverse makeup of the Indian population.
From Bollywood to Dance Pop and Desi hip-hop to Today’s Top Hits, here are the sounds of Spotify’s first week in India.
Top 10 Songs:
- “Sucker” – Jonas Brothers
- “I Can’t Get Enough” – benny blanco ft. Selena Gomez, J Balvin, Tainy
- “7 rings” – Ariana Grande
- “Shallow” – Lady Gaga
- “Sunflower” – Post Malone, from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” – Ariana Grande
- “Duniyaa” (From “Luka Chuppi”) – Akhil
- “Con Calma” – Daddy Yankee
- “i’m so tired…” – Lauv
- “Talk” – Khalid
Top 10 Artists:
- Arijit Singh
- Ariana Grande
- Tanishk Bagchi
- Badshah
- Post Malone
- Neha Kakkar
- BTS
- A.R. Rahman
- Selena Gomez
- Pritam
Top Spotify Playlists:
- Today’s Top Hits
- Top Hits Hindi
- Top Hits Punjabi
- Bollywood Romance
- Bollywood Butter
- Sound of Mumbai
- Sleep
- Bollywood Party
- RAP 91
- Desi Hits
Top-streamed genres:
- Pop
- Dance pop
- Desi hip hop
- Desi
- Filmi
- Indian pop
- Post-teen pop
- Modern bollywood
- Sufi
- Pop rap
Tune in to Top Hits Hindi to check out some of the most popular music in India right now.
4 Questions (And Answers) with Amarjit Batra, Managing Director, Spotify India
We are delighted to be launching in India, a dynamic market with cultural diversity that’s beautifully expressed through music. Starting today, Spotify listeners in the region can enjoy an improved experience finely tuned for Indian fans, including free audio content for all, personalization, and multi-platform play.
We sat down with Amarjit Batra, our new Managing Director for India, to learn more.
India has an immensely rich musical history. What’s unique about Spotify launching right now?
We are coming to India during an exciting period for music: both international and regional content preferences are booming. For example, we’ve seen K-pop climb the Indian charts at the same time that Punjabi music has become a national phenomenon. Additionally, there’s been a rise in indie artists.
We’re able to give users a distinct music experience, right from day one, that builds on the demand for genres of music across moods and moments. They can tap into over three billion playlists, and even have ones created specifically for India with the most popular local languages. Spotify will also enable them to discover new and local artists as they continue to break into the music scene.
With a population of over 1.3 billion, India is obviously a large market. What does the potential look like for Spotify?
With a market of our size, it’s not surprising that India leads when it comes to the weekly average in music streaming: according to the Indian Music Industry (IMI), Indian internet consumers are spending almost 21.5 hours every week listening (compared to the global average of 17.8 hours weekly). We see a huge potential in the market with music fans who have yet to migrate onto a preferred streaming platform. Spotify can offer a seamless personalized streaming experience whenever and wherever they want, and with a platform that’s customised just for the Indian market.
What role will Spotify play in fostering Indian music locally and worldwide?
Music is transcending boundaries, and that’s reflected in how global pop culture has found a fan following in India. With our plethora of playlists, 40+ million songs, and millions of creators on our platform, our aim now is to take the sounds of Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood, and independent artists not just to Indian fans, but also to the diaspora and the global audience that awaits. It is a unique opportunity for artists in India to expand their reach and win over new fans.
We hope that Spotify will have a significant and positive impact on the music scene in India and its diaspora.
To get a feel for the music, what are some Indian playlists or genres that you’d recommend starting with?
Our editors in India have created more than one hundred playlists just for local music fans. We view this music through three lenses, and that’s a good way to approach it, too. First, there’s the music stemming straight from the India film industry (e.g., Bollywood Butter and Kollywood Cream playlists). Additionally—because many actors in India are associated with songs and genres—we’re creating “Starring” playlists, which highlight those actors, for the first time in any market. Then, there’s the country’s rising independent music scene, especially in hip-hop. For music fans who are looking beyond movies, there are multilingual playlists such as Indiestan, Rap 91, and Punjabi 101.
And finally, we are also creating city-specific algorithmic playlists, including Sound of Mumbai, Sound of Delhi, Sound of Bangalore, and Sound of Chennai. These will be multilingual playlists updated on a weekly basis.
We are very excited to see how users respond to all of these!
Check out a few of the many playlists now available in India:
Spotify Launches in India
Today, we’re excited to announce that Spotify is now available in India. Spotify comes to the world’s second-most-populous country with all-new features that are finely tuned to Indian music fans’ personal tastes. With this launch, we’re offering the best listening experience in local and international music—and the freedom to play it across a wide range of devices and app integrations.
“As Spotify grows, our goal is to bring millions of artists and billions of fans together from every country and background,” says Daniel Ek, Spotify founder and CEO. “India has an incredibly rich music culture and to best serve this market, we’re launching a custom-built experience. Not only will Spotify bring Indian artists to the world, we’ll also bring the world’s music to fans across India. Spotify’s music family just got a whole lot bigger.”
The exclusive features include:
- Multi-language music recommendations: Many Indians speak several local languages, so Spotify’s music recommendation engine can now be tuned to Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu. Indian users can select their preferred language(s) to receive tailored Daily Mix, Home, Radio, and Search results and recommendations.
- Spotify Free with full control: For the first time on Spotify Free, smartphone users can play every song on demand.
- Playlists made for India: Our new playlists, expertly curated and regularly updated by our team of Indian music experts, include Indiestan, Rap 91, Namaste Love, Punjabi101, and Bollywood Butter, as well as Top Hits in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Punjabi. These sit alongside our celebrated international playlists, including mint, RapCaviar, ¡Viva Latino!, and the This is… artist compilations. Add billions of creator and fan-built playlists to the mix, and Spotify has a playlist for any mood or moment.
- Spotify goes to the movies: Introducing Starring…, a series of playlists featuring the best music from the most popular Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, and Punjabi actors. Spotify’s recommendations will also include songs from India’s favorite movies and actors.
- City playlists: Find out what’s hot in each city, with new algorithmic playlists tracking what’s trending in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
“Spotify’s arrival in India is a big step forward in our overall global growth strategy,” says Cecilia Qvist, Spotify’s Global Head of Markets. “A fundamental piece of that strategy is staying connected to global culture while allowing room for local adaptation, and we’ve certainly achieved that with our India launch. We’ve worked closely with local teams of researchers, engineers, and cultural tastemakers to ensure this global product is going to be loved, used, and favored by people all over India, whether they’re listening to local Bollywood and Punjabi hits, or discovering curated global playlists of K-pop or Brazilian funk.”
Today’s launch comes on the heels of our recent expansion across MENA and Southeast Asia, bringing the total number of Spotify markets to seventy-nine. Spotify now has more than 200 million users, including more than 96 million subscribers.
For the sounds of India, take a listen to Rap 91.
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