Tag: MD series

5 Questions (and Answers) with Federica Tremolada, Managing Director, Spotify Southern and Eastern Europe

April 26, 2021

Federica Tremolada joined Spotify exactly two years ago as Managing Director for Southern & Eastern Europe. This diverse region is made up of 26 countries, including big established markets like Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Poland, as well as a number of fast-growing newer markets, like Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, and the Balkans. From the start, Federica knew there wouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach for her markets. 

At Spotify, Federica has combined her passion for audio (she’s been a musician since a young age) with her experience in international media and technology. Her background in negotiating and managing complex international media partnerships led her to have a deep understanding of different business models at Spotify and how to fit them into the puzzle that is Southern and Eastern Europe. 

Recently, Federica was honored on Billboard’s 2021 International Power Players list. For the Record took the opportunity to check in with Federica to hear about what she’s been up to—and what she looks forward to down the road.

What’s Spotify’s ultimate vision and goal in Southern and Eastern Europe (SEE)?

Our mission at Spotify is to unlock the potential of human creativity—by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it. The translation of our mission into the 26 markets of the Southern and Eastern European region is to enable this unique connection between artists and fans at a local level by providing the most relevant content, a highly sophisticated personalized experience, and the best product fit to local artists, users, and advertisers. 

If I think about some of the most recent campaigns we’ve launched, they had an enormous impact both locally and globally. As an example, our Sanremo 2021 campaign was a huge success! During the five days of the popular Italian musical festival, the official playlist was the third-most-listened-to playlist globally, just behind Today’s Top Hits and RapCaviar. 

What are some of your greatest achievements at Spotify to date?

One of the biggest achievements came from better understanding the diversity and priorities of all my 26 markets with high growth potential, both in terms of new monthly active users and subscribers. Being more local means providing an adequate type of support to creators and being culturally relevant for all our users regardless where they come from. This translated into multiple initiatives we launched in the region: the localization of Spotify for Artists in most of the relevant languages, the launch of an Original & Exclusive strategy for podcasts starting from our top markets that brought an Emmy-like award in Spain (Premios Ondas) for XRey, a bigger and better approach to our local marketing campaigns, artists’ promotion at a larger scale (like Sfera Ebbasta, C Tangana, ROSALÍA, or Taco Hemingway), and last but not the least, the creation of a team that could facilitate and accelerate this type of support. 

What do you view as the key headwinds that you and the region face?

The real challenge is managing complexity at a large scale. We need to make sure we stay competitive in our most mature markets by acquiring new audiences, refreshing our original and exclusive content slate at a stable pace, owning local music genres as much as we do for global trends (for example, Flamenco Flow in Spain or Disco Polo in Poland), and personalizing the Premium experience in every country. 

At the same time, it’s important not to lose sight of everything happening in countries at an early stage of growth or those still on a fast growth trajectory by fueling that growth with the right amount of resources and investments. We’ve never invested so much in local initiatives in SEE as we’re doing in 2021.

Within your market, what would you say are the most exciting or interesting trends that you’re seeing?

Podcasts are definitely one of the most interesting trends that also had a huge acceleration during the pandemic. Italy and Spain were among the two markets that quarantined first in early March 2020, and during those first few weeks podcast listening went up in those markets. This format is particularly loved by millennials and Gen Z users who identify podcasts as a more humanizing technology and also a better way to fuel self-discovery. In order to provide high-quality content around these topics, we launched three new shows in Spain (X-Rey, AM, and El Rey del Cachopo), plus three originals (Tutto Sanremo ma dura meno, L’Educazione Responsabile, and Complottisti Domestici), and one exclusive format (Demoni Urbani) in Italy in the last few months.

If we took a look at your recently played list, what would we find right now?

I love true crime in general for podcasts, so both Demoni Urbani and the recently launched El Rey del Cachopo are among my favourite titles, along with some of the shows we launched globally, like Renegades: Born in the USA or Dare to Lead with Brené Brown. From a music perspective, I love discovering new hits that I can add to my library, so Release Radar and New Music Friday are my favorite playlists during my spare time.

Stream one of Federica’s favorite Spanish podcasts, El Rey del Cachopo.

5 Questions (and Answers) with David Sang Wook Park, Spotify Korea Managing Director

March 23, 2021

In 2014, Spotify debuted our first K-Pop playlist, K-Pop Daebak, on the platform. From that day on, we’ve served as a global stage and partner for Korean artists and helped them introduce their music to the world. We doubled down on that commitment in 2015 with the launch of our K-Pop hub, enabling us to further introduce Korean music—including K-Pop, hip-hop, indie, OST, and R&B—to fans globally. 

Then, this February, Spotify launched in South Korea, creating an opportunity to amplify Korean musicians and spread their music to listeners like never before. And that opportunity expanded even more when, just 50 days later, Spotify became available across 80+ more markets for a total of 178.

For the Record caught up with David Park, Spotify Korea Managing Director, to talk more about why now was the right time to launch in South Korea, his own background supporting content creators, and Spotify’s mission to connect artists to fans in Korea and across the world. 

It’s been 50 days since Spotify launched in South Korea. What are some initial reactions you can share?

We’re taking into account feedback both from listeners and artists, constantly working to improve and innovate our service. From the artist community, we have generally received a warm welcome and positive feedback that our launch has activated the local music streaming market. We’re hoping that more listeners will be able to connect with a more diverse range of artists and music genres, both in Korea and around the world. Our team on the ground is deeply committed to this. 

From listeners, we continue to get extremely positive feedback on our unmatched personalization and discovery technologies. They’re seeing a very high level of music-related editorial input, powered by data and the depth of our algorithmic machine learning. We already see how listeners are discovering new artists and music, expanding their listening range and experience.  We believe in Spotify as more than a listening platform, but as a tool that brings the world of audio to you.

Tell us about your professional background prior to Spotify. How did that prepare you for your current role?

I’ve worked in the intersection of content media and IT/tech throughout my career, most recently founding a startup and setting up a business in Korea for a global company. One of the highlights during my career was definitely fostering and nurturing the video creator community and ecosystem in the APAC region. Helping Korean creators boost their presence not just in Korea but around the world—through the support of tools and data—was one of the key experiences that helped set me up for this role. There was one fact prevalent throughout the different roles I had taken: that content is king.

Spotify has been avid in serving as K-Pop’s bridge to the world years before launch. Can you talk about the timing of this launch? Why was now the right time?

While Spotify’s been very active in serving Korea’s music streaming market, it is a highly mature, unique, and complex one. With that, we had to invest an immense amount of time, resources, and research years before the launch. In every country we enter, we have to take market specificities into consideration and align with the local industry. 

All in all, building up a strong foundation to our long-term vision in Korea took some time, and we’re taking a step-by-step, hyper-sophisticated approach by considering market specificities and all relevant stakeholders. Our focus is on democratizing audio and music in the long run, and helping to accelerate the growth of Korea’s entire music streaming ecosystem, benefitting creators, labels, distributors, and fans. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. 

How will Spotify support Korean artists, both through launch and going forward?

We’re now hoping to take Korean music and artists’ global popularity to another level. Just recently we saw a variety of different artists, such as ROSÉ, DPR IAN, SHINee, Epik High, CHUNG HA, and more landing in the top 10 of the global Spotify debut charts. Korea’s music industry has been the epicenter of new cultural trends and music for many years, and it’s important for us to embed even further into this unique market, forging closer relationships with even more artists and labels and connecting them with fans across the globe. An example is our Spotify for Artists master classes, which we’ve proactively held for labels and artists so that they can better leverage our data and tools alongside our music team’s guidance and support. We want to empower them to connect with even larger audiences—both local and global.

What’s Spotify’s ultimate vision and goal in Korea?

Our ultimate goal is to provide the best audio experience to our listeners in Korea, and to continue to connect artists and fans on a scale that has never before existed. For listeners, we are committed to creating an environment in which they can enjoy a personalized experience tailored for their lifestyle, as well as diverse new content from all over the world. 

We see ourselves as a catalyst for additional growth in the market, with discovery of new artists and music being a key strength. We’re proud of that and are actively refining our algorithms to enable even more fan discoveries of new artists each month. We’re also confident that there is ample room for Korea’s music market to grow further as listeners’ audio and music consumption habits transform gradually. The shift has already begun. It’s only a matter of time and we’re working hard to speed things up. As our CEO, Daniel Ek, mentioned at Stream On, “It’s just the beginning.”

Ready to discover music and playlists for yourself? Check out David’s top working playlists—Lo-Fi Beats, Lo-Fi Cafe, and Lo-Fi House—or one of his new favorite playlists, In The K-Indie. “Recently, youra is a new gem I discovered through it. There’s just so much musical talent like youra in Korea that needs to be heard both in Korea and globally.”

런칭 50일 기념 박상욱 스포티파이 코리아 매니징 디렉터와의 5문 5답

March 23, 2021

스포티파이는 2014년 선보인 최초의 K팝 플레이리스트 ‘K팝 대박(K-Pop Daebak)’을 기점으로 한국의  아티스트 및 음악을 전 세계 청취자에게 소개하는 글로벌 무대 및 파트너의 역할을 해왔습니다. 2015년부터는 한국 음악 플레이리스트들을 총망라한 K팝 허브(K-Pop Hub)를 런칭, K팝, 힙합, 인디, OST, R&B 등 다양한 한국의 음악장르와 아티스트를 전 세계에 적극 소개해왔습니다. 

그리고 올 해 2월, 스포티파이가 드디어 한국에 런칭했습니다. 런칭 당시 93번째 국가였는데, 그로부터 겨우 50일이 지난 지금, 178개 나라에서 스포티파이를 만나볼 수 있게 되었습니다. 한국의 아티스트와 음악이 전 세계 178개 국가의 청취자 그리고 수십억명의 잠재적 신규 청취자들과 연결될 수 있게 된 것입니다. 

스포티파이 뉴스룸 ‘포더레코드(For the Record)’에서는 국내 론칭 50일을 기념해 박상욱 스포티파이 코리아 매니징 디렉터와 5문 5답 인터뷰를 진행했습니다.

한국에 스포티파이가 진출한지 겨우 50일이 되었습니다. 이제 막 발을 디디기 시작했는데, 초기 반응은 어떤가요?

수 많은 피드백을 항상 경청하고 서비스를 혁신해 나갈 수 있도록 집중하고 있습니다. 스포티파이의 런칭이 국내 음원 스트리밍 시장에 활력을 불어넣어준다는 긍정적인 피드백과 함께, 아티스트 커뮤니티로부터 따뜻한 환영을 받았습니다. 스포티파이를 통해 보다 다양한 아티스트와 음악이 조명 받을 수 있기를 기대하며, 더 많은 한국의 아티스트와 폭넓은 음악이 한국을 포함한 전 세계 청취자와 이어질 수 있도록 팀에서 최선을 다할 계획입니다.

청취자로부터는 저희의 독보적인 개인화(personalization)와 발견(discovery) 기술에 대해 ‘역시나’ 라는 호평이 많았습니다. 음악팀의 에디토리얼 전문성과 스포티파이의 독보적인 데이터, 알고리즘·머신 러닝 기술의 결합으로 이뤄진 결과물인 만큼, 전례 없는 서비스임을 저희 모두 자신합니다. 개인의 취향에 따라 새로운 아티스트와 음악을 발견하는 즐거움 외에도 듣는 음악의 스펙트럼을 넓혀준다는 피드백도 있었습니다. 분명한 것은 스포티파이는 단순 음원 플랫폼이 아닌, 전 세계의 오디오·음악 생태계를 청취자에게 선보이는 기술 서비스라는 것입니다. 

스포티파이 이전의 이력에 대해 말씀해 주세요. 이전의 경력이 지금의 역할에 어떻게 도움이 되었나요?

컨텐츠 미디어와 IT기술이 교차하는 분야에서 주로 경력을 쌓아왔고, 가장 최근엔 스타트업이나 글로벌 기업의 한국 지사 설립을 총괄한 경험이 있습니다. 아태지역 비디오 크리에이터 커뮤니티가 하나의 생태계로 자리 잡을 수 있도록 기여했던 경험도 중요하게 생각합니다. 당시 한국의 크리에이터들이 각종 기술, 툴과 데이터를 기반으로 한국 뿐만 아니라 전세계에서 존재감을 드러낼 수 있도록 지원했었는데, 그러한 경험이 스포티파이에서의 제 역할과 관련해 핵심요소 중 하나로 작용할거라 예상합니다. 

스포티파이는 한국 론칭에 앞서 이미 수년 전부터 K팝을 전세계와 잇는 교두보의 역할을 해왔습니다. 한국에서의 서비스 런칭은 왜 지금이 적기라고 판단했나요?

한국의 음원 스트리밍 시장은 특수하고 복잡한 편이며, 시장 자체의 성숙도도 매우 높습니다. 스포티파이는 수년간의 시장조사를 포함해 방대한 리소스와 시간을 투자하여 한국의 음원 스트리밍 시장을 연구해왔습니다. 더불어 어느 나라든, 해당 시장이 지닌 특수성을 고려해 서비스를 런칭해야 하는 것도 중요한 부분입니다. 

우리는 오디오·음악 산업의 수평화(democratizing audio and music)라는 장기적 목표이자 거시적 비전에 집중하는 기업입니다. 이 같은 비전을 한국에서도 이행하기 위해 오랜 시간 준비한 만큼, 앞으로도 다양한 이해관계자, 한국시장만의 특수성 등을 고려해 전진할 것입니다. 단계별로 정교하게 접근해 나감으로써 한국 음원 스트리밍 생태계의 동반성장에 함께할 수 있도록 최선을 다할 것입니다. 단거리 경주가 아닌 장거리 마라톤입니다. 

스포티파이는 한국에서의 런칭을 통해 앞으로 어떤 방식으로 한국 아티스트를 지원할 예정인가요?

더 다양한 한국의 음악과 아티스트들이 글로벌 인지도를 높일 수 있도록 기여하고 싶습니다. 얼마 전 로제, DPR IAN, 샤이니, 에픽하이, 청하 등 다양한 아티스트들이 스포티파이의 각종 글로벌 차트 탑10 안에 들었던 사례가 방증하듯, 한국의 음악은 전 세계와 통한다고 생각합니다. 한국의 음악 산업은 다년간 새로운 문화 트렌드와 음악의 중심지 역할을 해왔습니다. 한국이라는 특별한 나라에 스포티파이가 더욱 깊이 정착하고, 더 많은 아티스트·레이블과 협업하여 이들을 전 세계 청취자에게 소개하고자 합니다. 아티스트·레이블을 대상으로 진행해온 스포티파이 포 아티스트 (Spotify for Artists) 마스터 클래스 역시 다양한 노력의 일환입니다. 실제로 국내 런칭 후 더 많은 이들이 스포티파이의 아티스트 전용 플랫폼인 Spotify for Artists의 데이터와 각종 툴을 적극 활용하기 시작했습니다. 앞으로 많은 국내 아티스트들이 스포티파이의 기술을 통해 한국을 포함한 전 세계 178개 국가의 글로벌 청취자, 그리고 음악팬들과 연결될 수 있도록 하고 싶습니다.

한국에서 스포티파이의 궁극적인 비전과 목표는 무엇인가요?

궁극적으로는 한국의 청취자에게 최상의 오디오 경험을 제공하고, 계속해서 전례 없는 규모로 아티스트와 팬을 연결해 주는 것입니다. 청취자에게는 개인의 라이프스타일에 맞춰진 개인화(personalization) 경험과 전 세계의 다양한 신규 음원을 마음껏 즐길 수 있는 환경을 제공할 수 있도록 매진할 것입니다. 그리고 오디오·음악 산업의 수평화라는 장기적 목표이자 거시적 비전의 실현에 집중할 것입니다. 

한국에서 스포티파이는 ‘새로운 아티스트와 음악의 발견’을 강점으로 삼아 음원 시장 전체의 성장을 도모하는 촉매제의 역할(catalyst)을 하고자 합니다. 청취자의 오디오·음악 소비 패턴도 점진적으로 변화함에 따라 한국의 음악 시장 역시 더욱 성장할 것입니다. 변화는 이미 시작되었고 가시화는 시간의 문제이며, 스포티파이는 이러한 패러다임의 변화를 가속화하도록 전념할 것입니다. 최근 스트림 온(Stream On)에서 CEO 다니엘 엑(Daniel Ek)이 강조했듯, 스포티파이는 이제 겨우 시작점에 섰다고 할 수 있습니다 (“It’s just the beginning”). 

다양한 음악과 플레이리스트를 경험하고 싶은가요? 박상욱 매니징 디렉터가 업무 중 즐겨 듣는 Lo-Fi Beats, Lo-Fi Cafe, Lo-Fi House, 그리고 요즘 가장 좋아하는 In The K-Indie 플레이리스트를 확인해보세요. 유라(youra)처럼 원석 같은 아티스트들을 In The K-Indie를 통해 발견했다고 합니다. 박상욱 매니징 디렉터는 “한국에는 국내외 청취자와 전 세계 팬들에게 소개되어야 할, 유라와 같은 재능 넘치는 아티스트들이 너무나 많다”고 강조했습니다. 

5 Questions (and Answers) With Ilia Alekseev, Managing Director, Spotify Russia & CIS

September 29, 2020

For Ilia Alekseev, music has always been a passion. He played the flute as a child and later learned the guitar and drums to be part of a band. Now, as the Managing Director of Spotify Russia & CIS, some of Spotify’s newest markets, he has the opportunity to spread that love for music to listeners in his market and around the world. “Music and the self-expression it embodies help reflect my inner spirit,” says Ilia. “This makes the company’s business very close to me as an individual.”

Ilia takes his role—to create ways to connect artists and listeners and help Spotify become the leading audio platform in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova—seriously. To do that, he plans to adapt Spotify to the local tastes and needs of listeners in the market, as well as work to bring the rich and unique musical culture of Russia to the world.

We took a moment to get to know Ilia and the work he’s done so far.

1. Just a few months ago, Spotify launched in Russia. What was the reaction like?

Russia is one of Spotify’s 92 international markets and has a population of about 140 million people, making it one of our largest markets. Before the launch we did a lot of research and localization work to ensure that our product would match local preferences and expectations for all those users. 

What’s interesting is that the Russian audience had been long awaiting Spotify’s entry in the market, so the day before the launch, we saw high emotional anticipation from listeners on social and messaging apps. On the first day we had tremendous download rates, and the news about Spotify’s launch was so huge that three days after launch, headlines about Spotify were still trending on Russia’s largest news service. 

Yet what’s massively exciting for us is that there’s so much more room to grow in Russia. We’re really focused on doing that.

2. How is Spotify supporting Russian artists, both by way of launch and since then?

During the first days of launch in Russia, we also wanted to make sure listeners got the warm welcome from local artists Little Big, FACE, GONE.Fludd, MARUV, Mot, Nina Kraviz, Mujuice, Sharlot, Levan Gorozia, Klava Koka, Olga Seryabkina, Malbec, Siuzanna, Rauf & Faik, Max Barskikh, Tima Belorusskikh and Noize MC. International artists Katy Perry, Thirty Seconds To Mars, BTS, Imagine Dragons, Hurts, and Twenty One Pilots also joined the celebration of the long-awaited launch in Russia—that felt amazing!

In analyzing the first 30 days listening data, we discovered that BTS was the most popular artist among Russian listeners but that local artists also prevail in the top songs, genres, and artists. For example, MORGENSHTERN took second place, with Scriptonite, kizaru, and Max Korzh following closely.

We really hope that with the arrival of Spotify in Russia we don’t only introduce international artists to the market, but we also allow local artists to expand their international audience. We’re already seeing it happening. Recently, the popular Russian DJ Nina Kraviz was featured in Spotify’s new suite of track ID playlists that were cocurated by Spotify and DJs from all over the world. They’re now available for discovery by 299 million people.

3. How are Spotify’s editorial and algorithmic playlists unique to your market? How did this play into your launch strategy? 

Russia has a long-standing music heritage with various music tastes across the country. Analysis from the first 30 days’ listening data showed that, for example, cities such as Yekaterinburg and Perm clearly have a preference for rock music, and Moscow is more about K-Pop.

Prior to the launch, our music editorial team curated more than 100 playlists specifically for Russia—including Hip-Hop Cannon, Pop Non-Stop, Rock Today, Solaris, Indie Squad, More Fume, and Hits of Russian Rock, among others. We saw that this was the right move—some of the local playlists have since become the most popular among Russian listeners. Locally curated playlist Wind In Your Hair, for example, became the most popular among Russians while they were driving.

4. Spotify is known for its ubiquity—meaning listeners can seamlessly transfer what they’re listening to between devices and platforms. How are you leaning into this strategy in Russia?

We don’t want to corner our listeners into one ecosystem. We want to give them freedom to play music across a wide range of devices and offer app integrations with social media, popular apps, gaming consoles, TV and phone services, top brands, and more. We know that Russia is an Android-first market in terms of smartphones and has its own cultural behaviors, but mobile data is cheaper compared to other markets worldwide, so we expect high mobile usage and engagement from our mainly young audience. We took these factors into account when planning and localizing our ubiquity strategy.

This strategy also allows us to feature country-wide partnerships such as the one we have with MTS, one of the largest mobile carriers in Russia, that can now offer its over 78 million-person audience best-in-class personalized music recommendations with special terms. These kinds of partnerships enable people to try out audio streaming services.

5. Finally, if we were to take a look at your “recently played,” what would we find?

I’m a big fan of our local editorial playlists. I really enjoy Neopop, which helps me to navigate through the new wave of Russian pop music. Last week I felt a bit of nostalgia, so I listened to alternative bands from the ’90s like Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. And after my 10-year-old son played his Minecraft playlist on my account several times, I discovered some really . . . shall we say “cool?” new artists in my algorithmic playlists.

Get to know Russia’s top hits by streaming one of Ilia’s favorite pop playlists, Neopop

6 Questions (and Answers) with Claudius Boller, Managing Director, Spotify Middle East and Africa

December 2, 2019

How do we build the future of the music industry in the Middle East and Africa? A few years ago, that was the question Claudius Boller was asking himself. He had moved to Dubai from Germany in 2007 on behalf of Arvato-Bertelsmann to begin to build up the first digital music services in the region.

Later, Claudius joined Universal Music to set up their operation in the Middle East and North Africa and started digging into the puzzle of digital music. Along the way, he gleaned the expertise needed to promote and advance artists in the unique and vibrant region. From there, he joined Spotify, and for the past two and a half years he has served as Spotify’s Managing Director for MEA, covering the Middle East, North Africa and South Africa. 

Now a year into Spotify’s launch in 13 new markets in the region, Claudius is continuing to build the Middle Eastern and African market. And he’s as excited as ever. “We bring new things to people and at a scale that is unheard of. The Middle East and Africa have some of the youngest, fastest-growing populations in the world. It’s truly fascinating where the journey can take us.”

Read on for more of our conversation.

About a year ago, Spotify launched in 13 markets in the Middle East and North Africa. Only a few months prior to that was Spotify’s launch in South Africa. What are some of the unique factors that went into the launch, and some of the things that you brought in with your knowledge from being in the region for over a decade?

When it comes to launching a music service, there’s thousands of factors that play a role. I think it was instrumental to have the background of working at a label, since we have licensed and learned from other music services prior to Spotify entering the markets. We had to be overly creative to develop the much-needed digital monetization for creators in a region that had not developed it yet. 

Spotify’s ambition is really to bring music to everyone, and we need to be 100% locally relevant with our consumer offering. So we also made Spotify available in Arabic. This was quite tricky since we had to mirror the interfaces and Arabic language right to left. 

But what’s also unique in the region is that we are facing a highly diverse landscape. Though the Arabic language unites some of the countries, we have lots of very different dialects, cultures, and habits. And then in countries like Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, French is one of the major languages. 

What are some markers of success you’ve already seen across your markets in the Middle East and Africa? 

We created the Arab Hub and Afro Hub and made them available globally—kind of the gateway for local music to be discovered by our truly global audience on Spotify. Today we have about 248 million active users around the world, and that is changing the game for a lot of artists and labels as they reach new audiences.

Additionally, the introduction of Spotify Lite to the market ensures that music fans can access music in regions where connections, expensive data plans, and a wider penetration of older mobile phones are more common. Spotify Lite demonstrates our dedication to localizing technology and innovation for each region, including the Middle East and Africa.

The big game changer is also the increase in use of Spotify for Artists, where artists can see and learn about their audience for the first time. And, they’re surprised that they have huge fan bases already, maybe in the Americas or in Europe that they naturally wouldn’t be aware of—last month, for example, we put Amr Diab on a billboard in Times Square, the first-ever Arabic music artist to be featured there. We’re elevating local artists to the world stage. 

What are some other ways Spotify is helping artists in the region?

We offer educational classes where we bring in between five and 100 artists, distributors, managers, producers, and songwriters to talk about digital music distribution. How can they reach a global audience? How can they use Spotify’s data to do partnerships, negotiate with labels? We see firsthand how this is changing lives and careers. There is such a big difference here of what we can do with the creative community and so much potential.

What international music is being streamed in the region? And what are the hottest trends or genres coming out of your market?

Users in Saudi Arabia are exploring music from all across the world, like K-Pop. When BTS came to Saudi Arabia, it was a massive success.

But it also works the other way around. Egyptian Mahraganat is being played elsewhere, Maghreb (northern African) hip-hop is big in France—and trap is booming in both MENA and Latin America. We have music coming from the Levant and Egypt trending in Brazil. We have AmaPiano, the most relevant house music genre in South Africa—something I’m really excited about—getting big outside the country and being played in other regions across the world. 

What were some surprising occurrences that came about after launch in the Middle Eastern and North African market?

The Gulf countries love technology. So they’re using their smart speakers. They’re using our  in-car integrations day in and day out. Usage on smartphones, smart watches is extremely high. This is really what Spotify stands for, right? For true ubiquity.

One big success story in particular is our PlayStation partnership, which we rolled out globally. The gaming community in the Gulf countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, is one of the biggest. Our PlayStation integration adds to the experience as they can listen to our playlists—especially those with traditional Khaleeji music—as well as Iraqi music. They also create their own playlists to match their gaming experience. 

Finally, if we were to take a look at your “recently played,” what would we see?

Tons of kid songs, because my daughter figured out how to use the smart speakers, but it’s so much fun. Personally, I’m very much into ’90s rock and hip-hop. But what I really love at the moment is AmaPiano. It’s so fascinating. Everything about AmaPiano is new, it’s edgy. It’s engaging. It’s crisp, and it has a lot of energy. So I love the AmaPiano trend, and I think we can all stay tuned to see what it does globally.

Take a listen to Yalla for more of the sounds coming out of the Middle East and North Africa. 

5 Questions (and Answers) with Mounia Lalmas-Roelleke, Head of Tech Research for Personalization at Spotify

October 3, 2019

When it comes to creating a great product (say, an app that plays your favorite audio on demand), development requires patience, time, asking a lot of questions—and learning from failure. That’s where Tech Research at Spotify comes in. The team’s work allows us to develop core technologies and practices that ultimately enhance the user experience.

Mounia Lalmas-Roelleke is our Head of Tech Research for Personalization at Spotify. She has deep expertise leading interdisciplinary teams focused on user engagement in areas such as native advertising, digital media, social media, search, and now audio. We talked to Mounia about her team and its mission to incorporate and extend Spotify’s state-of-the-art technologies and products.

First off, why does Spotify need a Tech Research team in Personalization? What does it focus on?

I would take a step back and look at Spotify’s mission to unlock the potential of human creativity—by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it. We believe this vision can be achieved by operating with state-of-the-art science and pushing beyond.

Within Personalization, we aim to match users with the content they want to hear at the right time, in the right place. This means getting the context right, in a way that is delightful. It’s about providing an experience that is special and fulfills user needs in the moment. But reading third-party books and papers is often not enough to solve everything we are tasked with, especially in the short timeline we are typically given. So we conduct our own research.

To do this, we focus on several areas—human-computer interaction, language technologies, machine learning, algorithmic bias, evaluation, search and recommendation, and user modeling, for example—that make personalization and discovery work for both our artists and listeners. 

What is the Personalization Tech Research team make-up? 

We are currently a team of around 20 research scientists, with more joining our ranks in the weeks and months ahead. Our team spans a diverse set of backgrounds, practices, and disciplines—we have and hire research scientists across areas ranging from computer science to social science. 

Our team is based across the Spotify R&D hubs in New York, Boston, London, and Stockholm. 

How does this team work with others at the company? How do you prioritize what needs to be accomplished? 

Our working model is known as “embedding,” where our research scientists spend approximately 50% of their time in product teams. This is so they can learn infrastructure, teach state-of-the-art processes, and contribute to a product directly and in the moment. There is an immediacy, both in terms of time and impact. 

In the other 50% of their time, research scientists investigate independent projects that serve as input for future product directions. This includes assessing the feasibility of new experiences, algorithms and methodologies, as well as deep dives into topics of interest that do not yet fit within existing work streams. These investigations can then lead to an embed to deploy that experimental work. We also use this time to contribute to the larger research community through publications and external presentations.

How does your function’s work help Spotify beyond R&D? 

We believe that a strong internal research community and culture at Spotify will enable us to learn faster and have a bigger impact in our tech leadership. Our weekly Tech Research meeting, which is open to all employees, aims to strengthen Spotify’s internal research community and culture through sharing and discussing recent research from both inside and outside of Spotify.

What’s the key to Tech Research’s success? 

It is important that as a team in Personalization, we adapt to the very rapid changes in the tech world, and are constantly learning and innovating. As long as we can do that, Tech Research will flourish. 

For me personally, research means getting up every morning and being excited about the work I am doing, from building a hypothesis to seeing how it matures, to full deployment—for myself and anybody in my team and the teams who work with us. 

Learn more about some of the Spotifiers working out of our London R&D Hub and follow us on @SpotifyJobs.

6 Questions (and Answers) with Michael Krause, Managing Director, Spotify Central Europe

September 26, 2019

One of the most-streamed podcasts on Spotify isn’t a daily news update or a true crime saga. It’s Fest & Flauschig, a current-events comedy show hosted by two German radio hosts—in German. The show came to Spotify in its current iteration in May 2016 and is now one of several German podcasts high on Spotify’s global streaming charts.  

On the heels of the release of Spotify Exclusive popular podcasts Herrengedeck and Gemischtes Hack, we sat down with Managing Director, Spotify Central Europe, Michael Krause, to get his thoughts on why German listeners connect with podcasting like no one else.

Earlier this year, we announced our audio-first strategy. Within your market, what would you say are the most exciting or interesting trends that you’re seeing?

Germany was a diverse audio market from the very beginning, with our users listening to both music and audiobooks. That began to pave the way for an audio strategy or an audio focus for us even before it was the global direction.

Now in Germany, there’s a new original podcast episode being released every day. So there has been a lot of habit-forming, or ritualizing. People like to listen at a certain time or while doing a specific chore. Daily podcasts, like what Parcast is doing in the U.S. with Horoscope Today and Today in True Crime, could be very interesting here because podcast listening is such a part of the everyday routine.

We’re also seeing really big talents moving into the medium. And it’s not limited to people who can express themselves visually like streaming stars or TV hosts—it’s also great for authors, for example, who now have a new channel for their creative output.

Finally, I’m excited to see popular podcasts from other markets, like Sandra, be adapted for our German audience. It demonstrates that we can leverage global synergies in the podcast space.

Over the summer you spoke at the Publisher Business Conference in Hamburg, focusing on Spotify as a marketplace for podcast creators. What advantages do you see that we can offer creators that other companies aren’t able to?

We always hear from podcast creators that all the data and insights we give them are very, very helpful. On many other platforms, they don’t know how many streams they have, or at what point people stopped listening during the episodes. We have all the analytical tools for partners. Our creator team was very fast in making Spotify for Podcasters because we learned from Spotify for Artists.

Unlike in the music industry, there is no big podcast community that meets on a regular basis in Germany. This is why we’ve held various master classes and industry events that connect people in the podcasting field. For us, it’s very important that we bring the industry together and provide thought leadership and inspiration for our creator partners. 

What do you think it is about podcasts that makes them so popular among users in Germany?

Many Germans actually grow up listening to audiobooks and audio plays. I peeked a bit into the history, and because the theaters had been bombed after World War II, people had no access to entertainment. Radio then picked up audio plays. Those were very successful, and later they were released on cassettes and CDs. Today, children grow up listening to hours and hours of audio content. Even adults are listening to these audio plays on Spotify to relax, enjoy sweet childhood memories, or fall asleep.

I also think podcasts are successful here because they’re very authentic and truly personal, like Paardiologie with Charlotte Roche for example. I think it touches people in a way that’s more than just watching a video clip or other news formats. So it’s definitely something that is working very well because it feels like you’re part of something intimate and interesting.

What do you view as the primary or key headwinds that you and the market face?

I’d say mobile network connections. It might sound a bit odd because Germany is an industrialized country. But in terms of mobile data, we’re like a developing country. We don’t have mobile data coverage in many parts of the country. And the price for data is also very high.

We’ve spoken a lot about podcasts—what are some surprising music trends in your market?

In the German market, physical music still makes up 35% of revenues, which means people are still buying CDs in Germany. It’s a bit like Japan—we are late-bloomer markets. It’s only been in the last one or two years that we have achieved this level of change from physical to digital music consumption, and only this year that streaming has become the largest source of income for the industry.

Unsurprisingly, German hip-hop is a very important part of the culture, but we are now focusing on more diverse electronic pop and alternative rock genres. That’s why we have also launched a new flagship playlist called OFF POP. But Modus Mio (the equivalent of RapCaviar) is still going very strong, and in fact we’re putting Modus Mio live onstage for the second time with a big event on December 14 in Dortmund.

If we took a look at your recently played list, what would we find right now?

In my commute this morning from Hamburg to Berlin, I listened to the latest episode of Ja Ja Nee Nee, which is one of our newest Spotify Original Podcasts. It has this German author (think a German Nick Hornby) who’s speaking to a younger actor, and they talk about everyday life. They approach their topics in a very philosophical but fun way. So even things like office supply products can become magical topics when discussed by our very special anchors. 

Take a listen to OFF POP, Spotify’s latest flagship focusing on great music outside the mainstream, to get a feel for the current flavor of Central Europe.

6 Questions (And Answers) with Mia Nygren, Managing Director, Spotify Latin America

July 23, 2019

Artists who emerge in Latin America often catch fire around the Spanish-speaking world—and beyond—thanks to streaming (just look at “Despacito”). In the six years since Spotify’s launch in the region, Latin America has quickly become one of Spotify’s fastest-growing music and podcast markets. 

We sat down with Mia Nygren, our Managing Director of Latin America, to learn how streaming spread so rapidly throughout the region, transformed its music industry, and then began to influence the rest of the world. 

Tell us about your professional background, particularly your work in the music industry prior to joining Spotify. How did that prepare you for your current role?

I have seen and been a part of the massive transformation that the music marketplace has experienced in the past 20 years. After university, my first job as a market research consultant for Nordic internet companies brought me to Spain. Then in 2001, I joined a Swedish mobile music creator and distributor of ringtones. It was pretty clear that the technology would improve with time and that labels and publishers would enter the space. From there, I went to Universal Music Group (Spain and Portugal) in 2003 and lived through the sharp decline in physical sales and the consistent growth in digital distribution. After nine years at the label, I moved back to my hometown, Stockholm, to join Spotify.

My time at Universal was invaluable in so many ways, but was particularly helpful at first in driving the Spotify business forward through partnerships with labels—my primary responsibility as Business Development Director in Europe. Moving into my current role, a deep understanding of the music industry and how to identify innovative growth opportunities through content was also key—especially in a part of the world where music consumption is through the roof.  

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.