Meet the 29-year-old anchoring Spotifys ambitions in Bangladesh

It has been two years since Spotify launched in the Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka markets. Bangladesh currently has close to 1 million monthly active users (MAU), though most of them are not subscribed to any premium packages.

The current figures may leave a lot to be desired, but Spotify founder, Chairman and CEO Daniel Ek said in a recent interview with CNBC that the South Asia Subset  (which includes Bangladesh) is one of the regions where Spotify will have a massive presence in the next five to 10 years.

One of the prominent figures assigned to make sure of Spotify's triumph in South Asia is Md Ekramuzzaman (Ekram).

Ekram started off his career as a marine engineer and then aimed for an MBA degree to try for corporate jobs. Later, he became a game-changer in the country's gaming industry and has recently become the first Bangladeshi hire in Spotify's South Asia region.

The 29-year-old assumed the role of A&L Partnerships, SAS (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) for Spotify, with his job pertaining to identifying potential music partnership opportunities, market analysis, strategic growth planning, and much more.

In an exclusive interview with The Business Standard, Ekram expressed his optimism of Spotify becoming a key player in Bangladesh's music industry, not only as the go-to app for all kinds of local music but also by bringing everyone concerning the music industry under one umbrella.

The young tech enthusiast further prophesied a promising future for Bangladeshis on the global scene, saying they could also attain leadership roles in the biggest companies like their Indian counterparts, sooner rather than later.  

Spotify's ambitions for the Bangladesh market

According to Ekram, most Bangladeshi music is available on Spotify and the number of Bangla songs available on the platform is increasing day by day. Spotify also curated eight official playlists for Bangladesh, depending on the genre and moments. Meanwhile, Spotify is available in 184 markets as of now, with its active monthly global users amounting to 489 million. 

"Once a Bangladeshi song gets on our platform, it instantly becomes accessible to our audience. So, Spotify can really be the only audio streaming platform for all Bangladeshi musicians to reach a global audience in its truest sense,'' said Ekram. 

Still, Spotify is currently pacing out its expansion plans rather than opting for an aggressive approach to tap into the Bangladesh market. Their main priority is to educate and benefit the Bangladesh music industry with streaming tech and resources available on Spotify. Spotify is actively working with artists and record labels to make sure they also adopt these new developments and make progress.

In the past decade, there have been attempts to introduce music streaming services through apps like GP Music, Robi/Airtel Yonder Music, Gaan, Shadhin, Banglalink Vibe etc., but none was able to generate a countrywide wave.

"To be honest, our audiences are yet not accustomed to the idea of paying for listening to music, when pirated music, which is also easily accessible, already exists for free. So, we need to figure out the right way of digitizing copyright and licensing and guide our generation not to consume pirated music," explained Ekram.

"Maybe we will not be overtly successful within a year, but 2023 is going to be an exciting year for us," said Ekram, adding that they recently inked their first music partnership in Bangladesh with Coke Studio Bangla.   

An easy payment gateway system could also prove to be a cornerstone for Spotify to reach a wider audience. Currently, Bangladeshi users can make payments through either Grameenphone and Robi-Airtel subscriptions or credit cards.

"Soon, we will try to introduce one of the leading mobile financial services (MFS) in the country as a payment method for purchasing our premium subscriptions, which will make the payment process much easier for our users," informed Ekram.

Bringing equity to the music industry

Since launching two years ago in Bangladesh, Spotify has seen a 127% year-over-year growth in monthly active creators (MAC) on Spotify for Artists, which includes artists, labels, songwriters and everyone else involved in the creation of music.  

Unlike YouTube and other leading content-sharing platforms, Spotify does not provide monetisation opportunities directly to content creators. Rather, they pay royalties to the distribution channels and then it goes to those who hold rights to that particular music.

At first glance, it might sound complicated for many. But according to Ekram, it is a proven business model that has been working not only for a few artists but for the entire music industry since Spotify's launch

"On most other platforms, only a handful of people get paid for certain content, while others working behind it remain deprived. But Spotify's distribution system is designed in a way where everyone involved in content gets a percentage from the royalties," said Ekram.

However, many Bangladeshi artists are still not aware of these things. So, with his current role at Spotify, giving artists the recognition they rightfully deserve is one of Ekram's primary objectives.

"We have to educate the artists first and make them aware of the opportunities they have with Spotify to reach from zero to millions [of subscribers]," said Ekram, adding, "[And] in this regard, we will soon launch Spotify's global music programmes like RADAR, EQUAL, Singles, Fresh Finds, as well as the on-ground sessions like Spotify for Artists Masterclass in Bangladesh."

Content libraries: Plenty of room for improvement 

One of the key reasons why most people still prefer YouTube to other music streaming apps is the incomplete content libraries of the latter. 

Spotify, like others, also have not yet been able to curate a complete content catalogue of Bangladeshi lead artists and record labels. 

Copyright issues are to be blamed for that.

"The Bangladeshi music industry was not much organised before. So, digital copyrights for those old catalogues are spread out sporadically. Unless and until one [piece of] content gets delivered to us from the correct rightsholder via the right channels, we can not make that content available on our platform," said Ekram.

For example, Spotify has the latest songs from the popular Bangladeshi band Artcell but has not yet added the band's earlier songs to the library due to the unavailability of copyrights. 

However, the good news is that G Series, a major record label in the country, recently started working with Spotify and already is distributing their old major catalogues.

It will pave the way for more Bangladeshi music content to find its way to Spotify from now on. 

For instance, Spotify did not feature popular Bangladeshi band Artcell's first album 'Onno Shomoy' in the past. But now, thanks to their new deal with G Series, they now have the album available for streaming, while the band's second album 'Oniket Prantor' is also expected to be available soon. 

"We are also actively trying to partner with more emerging OTT platforms and individual music channels to onboard them on Spotify with their music," informed Ekram. 

Why no podcast in Bangladesh yet

Podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience or Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind are the biggest attractions on Spotify to many. But not to the users in Bangladesh. 

Probably the biggest complaint Bangladeshi users have in their minds against Spotify is that they cannot access any podcast from the country.

Ekram explained the logic behind it, "It may seem like just a matter of one click to make podcasts available in Bangladesh. But at the backend, we have a lot of work to do.

In podcasts, controversial topics like political issues come up quite often, which can hurt the sentiments of the people of a certain demographic. So, we require a Trust and Safety team to censor the podcasts first. And that is one thing we still need some time to arrange for," he added. 

This brings up the question: when will Bangladeshi people have access to podcasts on Spotify? "We will start with Pakistan [among the regions or markets where podcasts are not available], and then probably after a while, we will make them available in Bangladesh as well," said Ekram, adding, "Right now, our aim is to properly organise the Bangladeshi music library first." 

Bright prospect for Bangladeshis

Though Ekram is now based in Dubai and employed by a Swedish company, he does not think his current role reflects the much-talked notion of 'brain drain.'

According to Ekram, in his role in a global tech company, he is working for his own country, and pioneering the growth of many others in this sector for the upcoming years.

He also argued why it is necessary for more Bangladeshis to join the global ranks. "The more one will work in global companies, the better his/her credibility will become. More so if you are hailing from one of the emerging or developing countries," he said. 

Besides setting his eyes on more accomplishments in the coming days, Ekram was equally buoyant on the overall future of Bangladeshis in the global tech industry.

"I heard Facebook and Google also hired a few [more] Bangladeshis in the last quarter. This trend will continue, and that day is very near when you will see a pack of Bangladeshis assuming leadership roles in tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google," Ekram concluded.