By Arakunle Kayode
World’s most popular freemium audio streaming platform, Spotify, has launched its streaming service in Nigeria and other African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda on a subscription-free model. The launch will see the audio streaming platform bring its revolutionary audio discovery radio of 2.2 million podcast titles and over 4 billion playlists tailored for the African market with locally curated playlists.
Spotify’s launch in Nigeria comes with an unrivalled mix of entertaining features that offer everyday new music and podcast discovery, personalized recommendations to the audio tastes of listeners as well as the freedom to engage the platform across a wide range of devices and app integrations with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder, google maps, Nike, Samsung amongst others.
Phiona Okumu, Spotify head of music, sub-Saharan Africa, said, “African creators have always pushed boundaries, innovating and creating incredible sounds and starting from today we are giving them access and the opportunity to connect with a global audience of fans. By bringing in a best in class product and a localized experience made for Africa, we will contribute to boosting the growth of the local streaming ecosystem. We hope our new listeners are going to love the revolutionary audio experience we are bringing to the rest of the continent.”
Although, the platform is made free for listeners in Nigeria, Nigerian listeners will get the premium package without adverts for N900 every month while students can get premium experience at N450 per month just as seen in the United States. Also, there is a family plan which can accommodate up to 6 family members for N1400 and Spotify premium duo which allows for 2 people under the same address which goes for N1200 every month
Meanwhile, Spotify has further announced that in the coming days, it will expand its presence across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America to give listeners instant access to a world of audio.
What this means is that with the launch of its streaming service in Nigeria with a teeming music-loving population of over 70 million Nigerians, Spotify will offer Nigerians more quality audio and podcast services from a variety of musical artists. Also, it will help curb the issue of content piracy and music copyrights as artists’ will be paid their due royalties, accordingly, as well as the security of contents on the platform. Thus, Nigerians will have seamless and undenied access to a wide collection of digital contents from their favourite artists and podcast creators.
