WHY SPOTIFY NEEDS TO UP ITS GAME OUTSIDE OF EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS (AND IS MAKING BIG BETS TO DO SO)
Share price-watching Spotify investors have been starved of good news of late, but this week has brought them a welcome boost. The market cap of SPOT grew nearly 7% at the bell on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday (November 26) – largely, it appears, thanks to reports suggesting that the loss-making company’s expansion into India may be back on. The major labels have played hardball with licensing Spotify in India this year: Daniel Ek (pictured) is believed to have originally been plotting a soft launch in the market over the summer, which never arrived. But now, according to Variety and Di Digital, Spotify could launch in India “within six months”. (That target date should, coincidentally, arrive shortly after Spotify’s current deal with Universal Music Group comes up for renewal.) This is an understandably exciting prospect for Spotify’s Wall Street supporters. India’s 1.3bn population is approximately seven times bigger than the 191m monthl...