Spotify announces its launch in South Korea

Spotify is coming to South Korea, and this was announced this week. The Swedish audio streaming and media services provider revealed that it will be launching its music streaming service in the country that is the home of Kpop.

Why Spotify is expanding to S. Korea

Spotify is entering the South Korean music streaming market as the presence of Kpop in the global market continues to soar. In fact, the company shared that it has been playing Korean Pop music since 2014 and noticed that in 2020, more people have been tuning in to this music genre.

It stated that the number of listers increased by more than 2,000% in the last six years. This is equivalent to the total streaming time of around 180 billion minutes. This immense growth is apparently the main reason why Spotify decided to come to South Korea despite the stiff competition that it faces.

“We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and Korea is rich in both,” Alex Norström, Spotify’s chief Freemium business officer, said via press release. “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.”

Spotify’s strategy to get on top of the competition in S. Korea

As reported by Yonhap News Agency, Spotify is aiming to attract the local market by tailoring playlists according to the preference of the South Korean listeners. With the rigid competition, it is hoping that this strategy will work and beat its local rivals such as Genie Music, Melon and more.

Spotify will be providing a great music experience to the locals through its uniquely tailored music list starting this week. The company is expecting a smooth launch, and listeners will be given a playlist that was exclusively made for South Koreans. Of course, it will be featuring both the old and latest songs that the locals will enjoy listening to.

The music streaming giant will grant Korean listeners access to more than 60 million songs that were classified in a wide range of Korean music types like Indie, HipHop, R&B, OST, Kpop, and more.

Meanwhile, for people who would like to subscribe to Spotify in South Korea, they can sign up for two monthly subscription plans with starting rate from KRW10,900 won or $9.75. It should be noted that there is no free version like in other countries.