Audio streaming service Spotify is set to make its debut in Kenya soon.
The country is one of 80 new markets where the popular music and podcasts streaming service will be expanding to, a dozen years since its launch.
Spotify has been running extensive tests with a section of beta testers in the country – and in Tanzania as well – over the last few weeks.
Spotify is coming… https://t.co/ENeEL50aZW
— permanent irrefutable public user (@echenze) February 18, 2021
They're doing app testing here…
— permanent irrefutable public user (@echenze) February 18, 2021
Until it is officially accessible in coming days, accessing Spotify from Kenya and the rest of the markets where it hasn’t been available has been a chore. On platforms like Android, for instance, users have been at the mercy of VPNs and foreign addresses when signing up in order to get things to work.
That won’t be the case anymore once the service is live in the country.
Even more importantly, for those that wish to take their music everywhere with them – even when offline – and not have to be at the mercy of the automatic playlist shuffle, it will now be relatively cheaper to subscribe to Spotify Premium.
As it is, the cost for accessing Spotify Premium is usually pegged on the billing of the country they chose when registering for the service. If one chose the United States, for instance, the service ends up being costly every month while we know for a fact that billing varies by country and countries deemed poor, like ours, wouldn’t ordinarily have pricing similar to those deemed rich/with people that have a higher spending power.
For those that care deeply about the quality of their music, the upcoming Spotfiy HiFi will be open game (fingers crossed since only Free and Premium are confirmed) when it arrives later in the year. So far, moving from the free limited tier to the premium plan has also been a chore for Kenyans looking to make the jump as it involves the use of either US-mapped virtual credit cards or purchase of gift cards/vouchers.
When Spotify finally arrives, Kenyans will have access to an increased number of available music streaming services with Deezer and Apple Music having been accessible for a few years now. The latter even allows local college-going students to enjoy the same student discounts it offers in other markets, prorated to fit the local context.
Neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda are the other countries where the service is set to be available officially soon.
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, are the other African countries where the streaming service will be debuting.
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