Spotify plans to launch in more than 80 countries

Audio streaming service Spotify plans to nearly double its geographic footprint and launch in 85 other countries, adding 36 languages ​​to its platform.

The Swedish company announced its international expansion on Tuesday during a live streaming event with Justin Bieber, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Spotify said the expansion, into what is largely seen as developing countries in Asia, Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean, will allow an additional billion people to use its platform.

In the coming days, Spotify will be launched in countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Samoa, Jamaica, Bahamas and Belize.

“These moves represent Spotify’s biggest market expansion to date,” Spotify said. After the expansion, Spotify will be available in more than 170 countries.

Spotify launched in 2008, just a year after the first iPhone was released, and has accumulated 345 million monthly active users in 95 countries. 155 million of these are premium paying subscribers.

Although Spotify started out as a music streaming platform, now people can listen to podcasts, audiobooks and meditations.

The Stockholm-based company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars securing exclusive podcast series, including a new show from Barack and Michelle Obama with Bruce Springsteen.

Spotify faces stiff competition from Apple, Amazon and Google, which have launched their own music streaming services in recent years.

Perhaps the company’s biggest competitor is Apple Music, and Spotify is engaged in a bitter antitrust dispute with Apple. Spotify doesn’t think it fair that it should pay Apple a commission, or what it sees as a “tax,” when users subscribe and pay for its service through Apple’s App Store. It filed a complaint with the European Commission in March 2019 and an investigation is ongoing.

Spotify’s stock price fell 4% to $ 350 on Monday, falling an additional 0.5% to $ 348 during out of hours trading.