TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sweden-based music streaming, podcast and commercial video services Spotify said that Indonesia is its second biggest market in Asia.
“Indonesia is the fastest growing market in Asia and is also our second biggest market after the Philippines. But we have been operating in the Philippines for three years now and only one year in Indonesia; I believe it’s only a matter of time [until Indonesia takes over the Philippines` market],” Spotify Managing Director for Asia Sunita Kaur told reporters yesterday, May 10, in Jakarta.
Sunita, who met journalists to celebrate one year of Spotify’s operation in Indonesia, was accompanied by Swedish Ambassador to Indonesia Johanna Brismar Skoog.
She said that Spotify’s business performed well in Indonesia if measured from the time spent by consumers listening to the streaming services.
“Based on our calculation in the past year, Spotify’s Indonesian consumers spent 11 billion minutes or an average of three hours per day listening to music via Spotify,” Sunita said.
According to her, Spotify’s development has had a positive impact on the national music industry as musicians, producers and other music professional get more revenue from to the service.
Founded by Daniel Ek in 2006, the music streaming service provider is striving to tackle music piracy that hurt artists and music industry players.
To enhance its business in Indonesia, Sunita and her team have put more attention on the country’s most popular genres, namely pop, indie pop, electronic dance music (EDM), dance and dangdut.
“The fact is encouraging because huge interest into dangdut not only shows that Spotify users in Indonesia celebrate their unique culture, but it also gives us an opportunity to learn more about the genre. Dangdut may be one Indonesian genre that we bring to other parts of the world,” said the Indian woman.
Having previously partnered with local singers Tulus and Raisa in its launch in Indonesia last year, Spotify is now collaborating with emerging musicians Soundwave and Gloria Jessica.
Spotify has earlier helped popularize international musicians, such as Lorde, Foster the People, Bastille, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
ANTARA