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Spotify and Orange Partner to Truncate Streaming Barrier for Users in Madagascar, Mali, DRC, Guinea

Such partnerships help facilitate the consumption and promotion of local talents & content, evident in the growing global opportunities for Latin music, Afrobeats, K-Pop talents.

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In many developing countries, internet services are either poor or come with strict data caps. This makes streaming [music, podcasts, video] expensive, laggy, or even impossible at times. This is also why new technologies like HiFi sound quality, lossless audio files, which require even more bandwidth, take longer time to catch on in these regions. This digital divide poses serious barrier that restrains most people from accessing and streaming music.

To address this, Spotify, in maintaining its market-share lead status, has partnered with Orange, a telecommunications company operating in 18 countries across Africa and the Middle East. This partnership enables mobile users to stream music on Spotify for free by subscribing to an Orange mobile plan that comes with complimentary streaming bonuses.

Spotify currently leads global market share among its competitors [Apple Music, Amazon Music] with about 574 million monthly active users (MAUs); including 226 million subscribers. With this partnership, Spotify aims to expand its user base even further, particularly in regions where access to digital music consumption is limited or high data costs are a concern.

According to Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Managing Director for Spotify in Sub-Saharan Africa

“We are excited to partner with Orange Middle East & Africa to offer data bonuses to our customers in Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Madagascar, and Mali, allowing them to enjoy our vast music library of over 100 million songs, without worrying about data. We are aware that data costs continue to be a hindrance for people who would like to stream music, that’s why we are actively working at Spotify SSA on partnerships like this one." 

Brelotte Ba, Deputy CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa, said:

“We are pleased to partner with Spotify to bring a new experience to our customers in Africa and the Middle East. As a multi-service operator on the continent, we want to provide our customers with easier access to the rich musical culture in Africa and to the promotion of local talents. The deployment of this service in the countries where we are present will greatly facilitate access to an incomparable musical experience for all communities and thus contribute to the acceleration of digital inclusion on the continent.”

Partnerships like these can help facilitate the consumption and promotion of local talents and content while introducing them to a global audience. This is evident in the growth of Latin music revenues, since the advent of streaming, as well as the growing discovery of Afrobeats and K-Pop globally.