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Spotify expands with new markets and features

SINGAPORE — Can the Spotify juggernaut be reined in? Despite competition from the likes of Apple Music and other streaming services, Spotify seems to be going from strength to strength.

Spotify has launched in Japan, as well as new music features. Reuters file photo.

Spotify has launched in Japan, as well as new music features. Reuters file photo.

SINGAPORE — Can the Spotify juggernaut be reined in? Despite competition from the likes of Apple Music and other streaming services, Spotify seems to be going from strength to strength.

It announced on Thursday (Sept 29) that it has brought its popular online music service on an invite-only basis in Japan. This will be available on mobile, tablet, desktop and PlayStation consoles.

As with elsewhere, users can listen for free, or get the ad-free Spotify Premium for 980 yen (S$13.16) a month. Reflecting the country’s predilection for karaoke, Spotify also introduced a new feature that shows lyrics while tracks are playing.

This latest move means the music service is now available in 60 countries.

Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek is betting that Spotify can carve out a piece of the world’s second-largest music market. It is currently the first free music service.

“We want to make sure Spotify here is long-lasting,” Ek said at launch event in Tokyo on Thursday.

Spotify will bring “two million artists around the world to Japan and bring the Japanese artists we all love to the rest of the world,” he added.

Earlier this month, the company announced that it had topped 40 million paying subscribers, which is more than double the total at Apple. It also said that is has paid out more than US$5 billion (S$6.81 billion) to music industry rights holders since its launch.

The Financial Times also reported that Spotify is now in advanced talks to buy rival service SoundCloud.

On Tuesday, Spotify also launched its latest feature, called Daily Mix. It works by adhering to your personal music preferences and crafting a playlist from the tracks that you listen to. The plus point being that this playlist will change with time. If you don’t like a song on the list, you can “ban” that particular track to remove it from future playlists. If you love it, just “heart” the tune to add it to your collection.

"We introduced Daily Mix as we wanted to further enhance the Spotify experience for our users," Spotify told TODAY. "Navigating through a library of over 30 million songs would be overwhelming for anyone. Therefore, we wanted to provide a new, effortless way to start a personalised session of comfortable music."

The company added: "This is very different with Discover Weekly (which is) based both on your own listening as well as what others are playlisting and listening to around the songs you love – making your playlist completely unique and full of deep cuts and new discoveries. Both introductions are meant to complement and enhance the users experience on Spotify."

This service is available to all existing users, both free and premium, however, there is a caveat: As this feature is based on your listening habits, new users will only be able to access Daily Mix after approximately two weeks of listening.

According to Spotify, Daily Mix is currently only Android and iOS platforms, but will roll out to additional platforms soon. WITH AGENCIES

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