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Spotify announced that it will launch its service in South Korea in the first half of 2021, providing local listeners access to over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists.
Following its availability, the entertainment platform will allow artists to reach music fans and its 320 million listeners globally, with an aim to accelerate the growth of the country’s entire music streaming ecosystem.
“We are excited about our upcoming launch in South Korea, a market recognized as an epicenter for music, culture and tech innovation,” said Alex Norström, Spotify’s Chief Freemium Business Officer, in a media statement.
“Spotify has been a partner to the Korean music industry for many years now. We are proud to have been a part of the K-pop global story, showcasing the genre on our platform and enabling its discovery all over the world, from Asia to the US, South America, Europe and the Middle East. We’re looking forward to working with our valued local partners to uncover more Korean artists, and to connect them with fans in South Korea and all over the world.”
South Korea is considered one of the fastest-growing major music markets and the sixth-largest music market globally, largely crediting K-Pop’s popularity over the last few years.
The homegrown genre has grown to become a global phenomenon and reached a fever pitch, undeniably led by the likes of BTS and BLACKPINK.
Spotify released its first K-Pop flagship playlist, ‘K-Pop Daebak’ in 2014 followed by a massive hub dedicated to the genre the next year.
As of today, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service has variety of playlists and libraries, encompassing a wide range of Korean music, including K-pop, Hip Hop, Indie, OST, R&B and more.
Since 2014, global listeners streamed more than 180 billion minutes and added K-Pop tracks to more than 120 million Spotify playlists. K-Pop listening share surged by more than 2,000% in the last six years.
Spotify’s top-streamed K-Pop artists worldwide, such as EXO, TWICE, BTS, BLACKPINK, and Red Velvet.
The homegrown genre has also garnered a following in the UAE and the MENA region on the music streaming giant, receiving the most streams from groups such as BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, Twice and ATEEZ in 2020.