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Jakarta Post

Spotify makes long-awaited entry into Indonesia

Popular Swedish music streaming service Spotify finally entered the Indonesian market on Wednesday, almost three years since its entry into Southeast Asia, giving Indonesian users access to a collection of almost 30 million songs via mobile, tablet and desktop platforms

Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, March 31, 2016

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Spotify makes long-awaited entry into Indonesia

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opular Swedish music streaming service Spotify finally entered the Indonesian market on Wednesday, almost three years since its entry into Southeast Asia, giving Indonesian users access to a collection of almost 30 million songs via mobile, tablet and desktop platforms.

Billing itself as the '€œworld'€™s most popular and powerful music streaming service'€, Spotify has now made its free and Spotify Premium options available in Indonesia, with subscription rates going at Rp 49,990 (US$3.74) per month.

The free option on the mobile platform is available to all users, but limits them to playing songs only on Shuffle mode, with the need to upgrade to Premium for those wishing to select their tracks. However, users of the free option on tablet and desktop versions may choose songs on-demand.

'€œWe are extremely proud to bring the world'€™s best music service to Indonesia, completely free to all music fans for life. Spotify takes music discovery and enjoyment to a whole new level, and it has now never been easier or more exciting to find the music you love!'€ Spotify'€™s director for Asia Sunita Kaur said in a statement on Wednesday.

Sunita added that Spotify users would now have access to a wide range of exclusive features including curated playlists, top charts, Party, Running and Touch Preview features, which have become central to the service since it was launched eight years ago.

To help bolster its presence in Indonesia, Spotify has also stocked its music library with a plethora of Indonesian music. Payment options for Spotify Premium include credit card, bank transfers and on-the-spot payment at Alfamart, Lawson and Dan+Dan convenience stores nationwide.

'€œWe are extremely proud to bring the world'€™s best music service to Indonesia, completely free to all music fans for life.

While the service only entered Indonesia on Wednesday, Spotify has been available in several Asia Pacific nations, including Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, since 2013.

In order to provide their services in Indonesia, Spotify has teamed up with telecommunications company PT Indosat Ooredoo. Previously, Indosat was already offering the Spotify Premium option to its pre-paid customers as part of its IM3 Ooredoo Freedom Combo plans, ranging from Rp 25,000 to Rp 40,000.

As part of their Freedom Combo plans, post-paid Matrix Super Plan users will get six months of free Spotify Premium and free Spotify data usage, with all subscribers paying through carrier billing.

'€œIndosat are pioneers in bringing the best digital experience in Indonesia and are proud to redefine the way Indonesian people listen to music today. As a digital nation, Indonesia is ready for the best musical experience in the world,'€ Indosat CEO Alexander Rusli said on Wednesday.

Spotify joins a list of foreign music streaming services that are currently available to Indonesian users such as Apple Music, French-based service Deezer, Australian service Guvera and Chinese service JOOX Music. US-based service Rdio was previously available in Indonesia before its shutdown in November 2015.

The company reported in March that it had reached over 75 million active users worldwide, with 30 million of them paying customers.

Spotify is currently at the forefront of the shifting trend within the music industry toward streaming services.

Streaming generated $2.4 billion in US music sales in 2015, representing 34.3 percent of all music sales, surpassing digital downloads as the recording industry'€™s single-biggest source of revenue and propelling the industry to its first year of growth since 2011.

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