Music-streaming service Spotify is planning to penetrate deeper into Asia.
As per a report by TechCrunch, the company is keen to debut its business in Vietnam and Thailand. Quoting two sources close to Spotify, the article states that it is considering expansion into India as well, which might be on cards for as early as this year.
Spotify has not commented on the news yet, however, its Singapore Job Page simply suggests this as a strong possibility. It has open positions for Music Editor, in both countries — Thailand and Vietnam. Even the job profile requires them to be in Singapore, akin to Indonesia, where it hired one the same way six months prior to the launch, the launch could happen this year.
The service claims to have over 100 million registered users, and more than 50 million paid subscribers. It has a presence in over 60 countries but still needs to explore more Asian markets. It currently offers its services in Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Spotify has been in news for its plans to go public. Initially, it wanted to raise its IPO earlier this year but it got delayed as their business model was not ready for the same. The company seems to be picking up the pace in this direction as it recently added four new members to its board including Tom Staggs, Padmasree Warrior, Shishir Mehrotra, and Cristina Stenbeck. It had also settled a lawsuit with a few songwriters which cost it somewhere around $43.4 million.
Not only this, besides expansion and its IPO plans, Spotify has had its focus on the technology behind its platform as well. A few weeks ago, it had taken over the team and technology behind French startup Niland, a service that provides music recommendations. This hinted at its possible move towards incorporating more artificial intelligence (AI) into its system.
