Spotify coming to Bangladesh very soon

Swedish audio streaming and media services provider Spotify is expanding to 85 new markets including Bangladesh in the "next few days".

Its co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek announced at its online-only Stream On event on Monday that its services will soon reach across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America.

Put together, the 85 new Spotify markets represent more than a billion people – a massive new untapped audience for Spotify that has grown to more than 345 million monthly active users and over 155 million paid subscribers globally, reports NDTV. This is Spotify's largest expansion to date. It's currently available in 93 countries.

Shafin Ahmed, the lead singer, songwriter and bassist for the Bangladeshi rock band Miles, is optimistic that this will be beneficial for musicians here.

"Spotify is the most popular music streaming site. If they work directly [from Bangladesh], that's good for us. As a musician, I want people all over the world to listen to our songs. We wish them all the best," said Shafin.

Impress Audio Vision's Director Ibn Hasan Khan has also appreciated Spotify's expansion move but he is not sure how much beneficial it would be for Bangla songs.

"It is good news for us that a big international organisation is coming to Bangladesh. But I cannot say right now how much [useful] it will be for Bangla music because I have no information right now. But, I appreciate them.

"Having said that I do not want anything harmful to the music industry. Let Bangla songs go ahead. As a Bangladeshi, I want it to spread all over the world."

In all of 85 new markets, Spotify will offer both Spotify Free and Spotify Premium plans. Individual, Family, Duo, and Student Spotify plans will be available in select markets, Spotify said.

Listeners in the new markets will get to access Spotify on mobile apps and in the browser. Apps for TV, consoles, speakers, wearables, and cars will be launched in the "coming months". Spotify's global music catalogue will be available in all of the new 85 markets and it will work with the local rights holder to add more local offerings.

Here's the full list of the 85 new markets that Spotify is launching in Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Curaçao, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New, Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.