Spotify catches up to competitors and launches in 80 new markets

Spotify’s also launching a new Hi-Fi plan for audiophiles.

What you need to know

• Spotify today announced it would be bringing its service to more countries.
• It’s doubling its supported market with the addition of 80 more.
• The rollout is beginning in the coming days.

Spotify today announced the release of its streaming service to 80 additional markets over the coming days. At the moment, Spotify currently supports 93 countries after having recently just launched in Korea. With the addition of today’s 80, this takes the number of markets Spotify supports to 173.

As for the markets that’ll be getting Spotify access soon, these include countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America — bringing access to over a billion potential customers. The rollout includes Bangladesh, Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and many more.

Market access has been one of the few things that competitors like Apple Music and YouTube Premium held over Spotify. Both services support over 100 markets, including many of which Spotify is just entering today. Spotify’s established brand could help overcome the lead these rival services already have, but it would be an uphill climb.

Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer, Spotify said at the company’s South Korean launch:

We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and South Korea is rich in both. 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.

The same sentiment likely holds true for the numerous additional markets the service now supports.