Spotify is the second biggest player in the music streaming space, behind only Pandora, with 40 million active users, of which 10 million are paid subscribers. In all, it is now active in 56 countries, including in Asia and Latin America, around the globe. There has been one region, however, that Spotify has yet to crack, and it one with a whole lot of potential users: Africa.
Now the company is said to be in talks to break into the region, potentially partnering up with South African telecommunications company Vodafone Group, it was reported by Bloomberg on Monday. The partnership would work by Vodacom giving its customers subscriptions that would allow them free data in order to access the Spotify library.
There is huge upside to breaking to Africa; after all, it is the home over one billion people, with over 51 million in South Africa alone. Vodacom, which is a unit of Vodafone Group, already has a customer base of 31.5 million people in the country, giving Spotify an immediate opportunity to reach the majority of the population.
And for Vodacom, a deal with Spotify would put it at the forefront of the burgeoning music stream space on the continent. A total of 90 million rand ($8.4 million) was spent on digital music in South Africa in 2012, roughly 7.3% of the country’s recorded-music market. That number will be at 14% in 2017.
As Bloomberg pointed out, there is a rash of African telecommunication companies looking to strike these kinds of content-sharing deals. That includes MTN Group, Africa’s biggest wireless operator, which is in discussions with an TV-content provided, and fixed-line carrier Telkom SA SOC, which has been in talks with companies including Netflix and Comcast in regards to them using its network to deliver content.
As for Spotify, the company has also been aggressive in its expansion over the past year as well. Last year, the company made its first moves into Asia by launching in three countries on the continent: Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. It also launched in five other countries at the same time: Mexico, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland. Spotify also launched services in Taiwan, Greece, Argentina and Turkey.
That expansion is due, in no small part, to the amount of competition out there, especially now that Apple has purchased Beats. Gaining a global audience, with members from all corners of the world, will certainly help Spotify remain the most viable company is a increasingly crowded market.
A spokesperson from Spotify had no comment on this report. VatorNews also reached out to Vodafone, and we will update the story if we learn more.
(Image source: mashable.com)
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Pandora, the leading internet radio service, gives people music they love
anytime, anywhere, through a wide variety of connected devices: laptop and
desktop computers, smartphones, connected BluRay players, connected TVs,
etc. Personalized stations launch instantly with the input of a single “seed” –
a favorite artist, song or genre. The Music Genome Project®, a deeply
detailed, hand-built musical taxonomy, powers the personalization or
Pandora. Using this musicological “DNA” and constant listener feedback
Pandora crafts personalized stations from the more than 800,000 songs that
have been analyzed since the project began in January 2000.
More than 75 million people throughout the United States listen to
personalized radio stations for free on Pandora through their PCs, mobile
phones and devices such as the iPad, and connected in-house devices
ranging from TVs to set-top boxes to Blu-Ray players. Mobile technology has
been a significant factor in the growth and popularity of Pandora, starting
with the introduction of the Apple app store for the iPhone in the summer of
2008. Pandora instantly became one of the most top downloaded apps and
today, according to Nielsen, is one of the top five most popular apps across
all smartphone platforms.
Pandora is free, simple and, thanks to connectivity, available everywhere
consumers are – at the office, at home, in the car and all points in between.
In 2009 the Company announced that Pandora would be incorporated into
the dashboard in Ford cars via SYNC technology; GM has already followed in
announcing plans to integrate Pandora into its vehicles and Mercedes-Benz
introduced their Media Interface Plus device that works with the
free Pandora iPhone app to provide direct control of Pandora from in-dash
stereo controls. This was all great news for the millions of Pandora listeners
who had been plugging their smartphones into car dashboards to listen to
personalized stations while driving. More than 50 percent of radio listening
happens in the car, making it a crucial arena for Pandora.
Today tens of millions of people have a deeply personal connection with
Pandora based on the delight of personalized radio listening and discovery.
These highly engaged listeners reinforce the value Pandora provides to: 1)
musicians, who have found in Pandora a level playing field on which their
music has a greater chance of being played than ever before; 2) advertisers,
who benefit from the multi-platform reach of Pandora, as well as its best
practices in targeting consumers for specific campaigns; 3) the music
industry, which has found in Pandora a highly effective distribution channel;
and 4) automobile and consumer electronics device manufacturers, who have
noted that incorporating Pandora into their product makes it more valuable
to consumers.
Pandora continues to focus on its business in the United States. The radio
arena has never been hotter, thanks to technology that enables radio to be
personalized to the individual and more accessible than ever before. Right
now millions of people listen to Pandora in the United States and we hope
someday to bring Pandora to billions of people around the world.
Timeline:
• 2000 – Tim Westergren’s Music Genome Project begins.
• 2005 – Pandora launches on the web.
• 2008 – Pandora app becomes one of the most consistently downloaded
apps in the Apple store.
• 2009 – Ford announces Pandora will be incorporated into car
dashboard. Alpine and Pioneer begin selling aftermarket radios that
connect to consumers’ iPhones and puts the control and command of
Pandora into the car dashboard.
• 2010 – Pandora is present on more than 200 connected consumer
electronics devices ranging from smartphones to TVs to set-top boxes
to Blu-ray players and is able to stream visual, audio, and interactive
advertising to computers, smartphones, iPads, and in-home connected
devices.
