Spotify today announced that it will launch its service in South Korea in the first half of 2021.
The world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service will give Korean listeners access to over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists. The launch will enable Korean artists to reach their local music fans, as well as Spotify’s 320 million listeners worldwide. It will also connect listeners in Korea to artists and music from around the world.
As one of the fastest-growing major music markets in the world* and the sixth-largest music market globally**, South Korea is key for Spotify in its mission of giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it. Spotify wants to help accelerate the growth of Korea’s entire music streaming ecosystem, benefitting artists, labels, distributors and fans.
“We are excited about our upcoming launch in South Korea, a market recognised as an epicenter for music, culture and tech innovation,” said Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer of Spotify. “Spotify has been a partner to the Korean music industry for many years now. We are proud to have been a part of the K-pop global story, showcasing the genre on our platform and enabling its discovery all over the world, from Asia to the US, South America, Europe and the Middle East. We’re looking forward to working with our valued local partners to uncover more Korean artists, and to connect them with fans in South Korea and all over the world.”
Since Spotify debuted its first K-Pop playlist in 2014, listeners have streamed more than 180 billion minutes of the genre and added K-Pop tracks to more than 120 million Spotify playlists. The share of K-Pop listening has increased by more than 2,000% in the last six years. Today, Spotify’s K-Pop genre hub encompasses a wide range of Korean music, including K-pop, Hip Hop, Indie, OST, R&B and more, as well as ‘RADAR Korea’, a playlist uncovering fresh K-music finds and a part of Spotify’s global emerging artist program. The hub is localised in over 64 countries, including Russia, India, Brazil and the UAE.