Spotify starts in the Middle East and North Africa

The world’s most popular paid music streaming service, Spotify officially got launched in the Middle East and North Africa. The company told services would now be available in 13 Arab markets, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Morocco but not Libya, Iraq, Syria or Yemen.

Unofficially Spotify was available in the Middle East market for several years through accounts generally registered in other markets like Europe. Claudius Boller earlier worked with Universal Music Group in the region, is Spotify’s managing director for Africa and the Middle East. 

Boller said Reuters Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Morocco were expected to drive regional growth, pointing to the Middle East’s youthful population and high smartphone penetration. For its premium service per month, Spotify will charge 19.99 riyals ($5.33) in Saudi Arabia, 19.99 dirhams ($5.44) in the UAE, 49.99 Egyptian pounds ($2.8) in Egypt, and $4.99 in other places in the Middle East and North Africa. Now it’s free service is also available in the region. 

Spotify further added the Palestinian territories. Since March its services were available in Israel. It also initiated its ‘Arab hub’ collection of playlists of Arab music. Found in 2008, the Swedish company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the month of April.