On its investor day presentation today, March 16, Spotify revealed its plans to launch itself in Indian and other global markets with a rich musical culture.’ According to CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek, other markets include Africa and Russia.
Earlier this month, the music streaming company said that it leased office space in Mumbai last year. This was disclosed in their public offering filing, which further concretes that the launch in India is quite near. Although, Ek didn’t disclose a timeline.
Spotify further added that they have 308 employees in total, for India, Australia, Singapore, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, Turkey, and 20 other countries, by 2017-end. However, a specific count for the Indian market was not disclosed.
There was an earlier report stating that Akshat Harbola has been hired to lead operations of the company in India.
In the investor presentation, Seth Farbman, the Chief Marketing Officer of Spotify, rightfully claimed that the company has been well-recognized in India for quite a few years. The awareness counts for about 36%.
Another fact worthy of mention is that this announcement came a day after Amazon debuted Prime Music in India. On the same day, Prime Music’s rival Gaana raised $115 million in funding that was led by Tencent. Among other players in the nation are Google Play Music, Apple Music, Hungama, and Saavn.
As far as Tencent is concerned, last December saw Spotify going for a purchase of minority stakes in Tencent’s, and vice versa, for cash. According to Ek, this was purely a financial investment for Spotify.
Additionally, the music streaming giant stated in the presentation that they are to go public starting April 3. The trading will start via New York Stock Exchange, before which they are to come up with financial guidance for the first quarter, as well as for the entire 2018. Interestingly, the plan includes going public through a direct listing that’ll surpass the need of a Wall Street bank or broker for underwriting a public offering.
