Spotify will soon be available in Russia, though Samsung devices. The two companies had announced a long term partnership last year, under which the latter was selected as Samsung’s default music player across all its devices. Extending this partnership, the Korean company will be launching Spotify in Russia this summer.
“We are working on launching in some of the biggest markets in the world, including India, Russia, and Africa which has a very rich musical culture,” Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify, said last year. The popular music streaming service has already been launched in India.
Spotify will come pre-installed on new Samsung devices
Spotify reportedly was to launch in Russia in 2015 but reconsidered its decision. Four years later, the app is now all set to make its debut in the largest country in the world. The app will come pre-installed in all compatible Samsung devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, fitness trackers, TVs and Family Hub refrigerators. According to Samsung, Spotify is now ‘Russifying’ the application. The rollout will begin in summer. It is, however, not yet clear if Spotify will exist independently in Russia.
Samsung will also be offering some exclusive benefits for Spotify users, including up to six months of Spotify Premium for free. The cost of a subscription to the service in Russia will be 150 Rubles (~$2.3) per month. You’ll automatically be charged the amount once the trial period ends. So make sure to manually cancel the subscription prior to the end of the free trial if you don’t want that to happen.
Spotify is currently available in 79 countries across the world. The service is said to have 207 million registered users as of December last year, of which 96 million are paid users. Spotify reportedly generated a revenue of €5.259 billion in 2018. The company is eyeing a figure in between €6.35-6.8 billion this year.
