Spotify plans to launch in more than 80 more countries

Spotify’s audio streaming service plans to nearly double its footprint and launch to 85 more countries, adding 36 languages ​​to its platform in the process.

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

Spotify said the expansion, into what is largely seen as developing countries across Asia, Africa, the Minch and the Caribbean, allowed an additional billion people to use its platform.

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

“These trends represent Spotify’s broadest market expansion to date,” Spotify said. Following the expansion, Spotify will be available in over 170 countries.

Spotify was launched in 2008 just a year after the first iPhone was released and has gathered 345 million monthly active users across 95 countries. Of those, 155 million are high paying subscribers.

While Spotify started out as a music streaming platform, it now allows people to listen to podcasts, audiobooks and reflections.

The Stockholm-headquartered company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire special podcast series including a new show from Barack and Michelle Obama featuring Bruce Springsteen.

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

Apple Music appears to be the company’s biggest competitor, and Spotify is embroiled in a controversy against trust with Apple. Spotify doesn’t think it’s fair that it has to pay a commission to Apple, or what it sees as a “fee,” when users subscribe and pay for its service through Apple’s App Store. He submitted a complaint to the European Commission in March 2019 and a probe continues.

Spotify’s share price fell 4% to $ 350 on Monday and fell another 0.5% to $ 348 in after-hours trading.