Better late than never, they say. But as anyone who has hosted a party can tell you, there are degrees of lateness: fashionably late, just plain rude late and so late your hosts have given up on you and gone to bed.
Spotify, the world’s biggest streaming music service, launched in South Africa this past week and will discover over the coming months just how close they’ve landed to the “soooo glad to see you” end of the tardiness spectrum.
There’s no doubt that they’ve arrived at a time when South Africans are spoilt for choice in the online music department, with the likes of Simfy Africa, Deezer, Apple Music, Google Play Music and, more recently, the Naspers-backed Joox competing for a share of our attention and wallet contents.
In Spotify’s favour, they arrive with instant brand recognition, a killer selection of 35 million songs and a wealth of playlists, all thanks to their early mover advantage in established markets that’s helped them notch up an enviable user base of 159 million.
While rumours of Spotify’s imminent arrival in Mzansi surfaced periodically over the years, usually around the time a competing streaming service launched, they gained traction last September after the company placed a job advertisement for a senior editor and music programmer for South Africa. Spotify’s arrival on our shores also comes ahead of recently announced plans to list in New York.
The service’s EMEA MD, Michael Krause, appears confident that they haven’t arrived too late to the streaming music party. “We have had the continent in our sights for a while and are finally able to offer South African fans access to all the music they already love on Spotify, while helping them to enjoy, discover and share new music from both local and international artists simply and easily,” he said at the local launch.
Pricing is another tick in Spotify’s favour.
The premium tier costs R59.99 a month, pretty much on par with its competitors.
An even more attractive price would have helped it stand out from the crowd, but the SA pricing is already a significant discount on the US prices, where the premium tier costs $9.99 (R118) a month, or $14.99 for a family plan of up to six users.
Spotify doesn’t offer a family plan for SA subscribers yet - a must for me with two varsity-going kids - but says it plans to introduce one shortly.
According to a media release from the company, South African users have instant access to a wide range of local playlists, “expertly curated and regularly updated by our team of music experts, including Hip Hop Juice, Top Hits South Africa, House Nation, iGqom Le and SA Gold, alongside millions of Spotify and fan-built international playlists”.
A major feature of the Spotify service is its personalisation, which allows fans to easily find the music they already love, while also helping them discover new music and artists, based on their taste and listening patterns.
“When a new user joins Spotify, we take them through a ‘Taste Onboarding’ process, which helps Spotify quickly learn more about your music tastes,” the company said. “Personalised discovery features include Daily Mix (a series of playlists combining your favourite tracks with new songs we think you’ll love); Release Radar (a playlist of new music based on the artists you follow, updated every Friday); and Discover Weekly (a playlist based on your unique listening habits - coming soon).”
A plus for fans of Sony’s PlayStation gaming console is that Spotify will be available on PlayStation Music, which will let subscribers enjoy streaming music on PlayStation 4 consoles while gaming.
The company says gamers will be able to listen to any song, album or playlist on demand, or even control Spotify through the Quick Menu without interrupting the game.
Another feature that will appeal to data-starved South Africans is that Spotify’s default setting for data streaming here is 24kbps, making it the most data-efficient local streaming service.
Additionally, premium users will be able to download their music to mobile or desktop devices while online to enjoy when they’re offline.
Paying subscribers can also opt for the high audio quality option of 320 kbps, although this is best used by those lucky enough to enjoy generous or uncapped data bundles.
Is Spotify for you?
With the streaming service offering a free 30-day trial subscription to its Premium tier, it’s easy to find out. The app is available for download via the Android or iOS app store or by heading to www.spotify.com
@alanqcooper