Spotify launched S. Korea amid fierce competition

SEOUL: Global streaming giant Spotify Technology SA said it launched its music streaming service in South Korea, the home market of K-pop, Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.

The service, which originally launched back in 2008, has more than 60 million songs and over 320 million users across 93 markets.

The latest launch comes amid the growing presence of K-pop in global markets. The service said it has been running K-pop playlists since 2014 and noted last year that the portion of Kpop listening has jumped by more than 2,000 per cent over the last six years, with total streaming time reaching 180 billion minutes.

Spotify said it aims to capture the local market with its playlists specifically tailored for South Korean listeners.

“We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and Korea is rich in both,” said Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer of Spotify.

“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 music streaming service faces stiff competition here, the sixth-largest music market in the world, from rivals such as Melon, under top messenger operator Kakao Corp., and Genie Music, an affiliate of telecom operator KT Corp.

Apple Music, which launched back in 2016, has struggled to take off in the country.

Spotify will offer two monthly subscription plans in South Korea starting from US$9.75 but will not offer its free adsupported version, unlike in other markets.

Spotify has uniquely tailored the music experience for each market. As a part of today’s launch, Spotify is introducing a range of new playlists made exclusively for South Korea. These playlists offer curated and the latest music from our team of Korean music experts, across some of the most popular genres.

These include:

• Top Playlists: Korean Music Hot Now, Fresh! New Music Korea, Hot Hits Korea, Korean Music Rising, Today’s Drama OST Hot Now, K-Pop Daebak and more

• Genre Playlists: TrenChill K-R&B, TrenChill K-Hip Hop, KHip-Hop +82, K-Are & Be, In The K-Indie, Korean City Pop, K-Rock Spirit, Folk & Acoustic Hot Now, Orchestra Korean Ballad and more

• Thematic Playlists: You Did Well, The End of the Day, So Cool Driving, Brain Rest 432Hz, Lullaby zZZ, Transcendental Game Play, Running K-Pop, Gayo Instrumentals, Spring Music, Into the Rain, Next Page of the Breakup, Kitchen Melodies and more

• ‘Starring’ playlists: This Is BTS, This Is Blackpink, This Is Stray Kids, This Is NCT, This Is Twice, This is Taeyeon, This Is Jay Park,

This Is Chung Ha, This Is Loco and more These new playlists will join Spotify’s K-Pop genre hub that encompasses a wide range of Korean music, including K-pop, Hip Hop, Indie, OST, R&B and more, as well as ‘Radar Korea’, a playlist uncovering fresh K-music finds and a part of Spotify’s global emerging artist program. The hub is localized in over 72 countries, including Russia, India, Brazil and the UAE.

In Korea, new listeners can try out Spotify Premium 7 days-free on their mobile phone with no credit card information and a total of 3 months-free with credit card information, if subscribed before the end of June 2021. Listeners can engage with Spotify across a wide range of devices and app integrations including Instagram, Facebook, Samsung mobile and TV, LG TV, Microsoft Xbox, Bose and more.