By Neo Kolane
Spotify, a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider launched in October 2008 is expanding into 80 new countries including Lesotho.
This means an opportunity for artists who have been online for years has been opened because they will be able to tap into the local market through it and still manage to be monetized.
An announcement that was made yesterday by Spotify’s Chief Freemium Business Officer, Alex Norstrӧm stated that Spotify expands into over 80 new markets across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America
Norstrӧm explained that SPOT will launch in as many of these markets as possible with a core library of content and features that will evolve over time
Currently, Spotify is not available in Lesotho; but it is only available in South Africa in the whole of Africa.
In an interview with theReporter, Letlotlo Ntśo, a hip-hop artist welcomed this development as a liberation.
“One of the problems I experienced in distributing local artists, was that their music was available globally but it’s not on platforms that are available in their home country, so with Spotify coming home, we’re putting an end to that anomaly.
“Spotify is the second largest streaming platform in the world after YouTube, so we’re joining a global village with vast potential and a track record of successfully breaking independent artists into the mainstream,” Ntśo said.
