Shulou(Shulou.com)05/31 Report--

Spotify Technology SA has released a new version of its music streaming app for customers in emerging markets, aiming to expand its base in Europe and China. Spotify Lite, which can run on Android phones, will attract users who are limited by data plans and slow Internet speeds, especially in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, the company said in a statement.

The app will be released in 36 markets, advertising-supported services will be provided free of charge, and the advanced version will be the same as its regular music streaming platform. The company relies on Spotify Lite to provide much-needed power to a potential market. Streaming services also need to reassure investors about their growth prospects while continuing to lose money. The share price is down 26% compared with the same period last year.

Spotify's biggest challenge remains the royalties it pays for music rights, which account for more than 60 per cent of its revenue and the main source of its losses. The company has agreed not to cut costs further in current negotiations with the music industry.

This has prompted Spotify to look for other ways to grow, such as podcasts. However, podcasting is still a new business, with revenues of $479.1 million in 2018, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. According to a report by Edison Research and Triton Digital 2019, an estimated 62 million people over the age of 12 listen to podcasts every week.

Spotify has asked investors to believe that the audio streaming market is still in its early stages. 65% of its customers trust North America and Europe. Africa, Asia and the Middle East account for only 13 per cent.

The Light of YouTube

Competitor YouTube has launched a simple version of its app for emerging markets and has added millions of users in Southeast Asia.

At the same time, for the same reason, Netflix allows users to download complete movies and TV shows to watch offline.

Spotify is different from these services, but it has been expanding in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Spotify Lite will use 10 megabytes of storage, while the main application will have about 100 megabytes of storage. It provides the same look and feel as a normal Spotify application, but has limitations in preserving data consumption. Users can also set data limits in the application to ensure that they never exceed the data limit.

The company said in a blog post that Lite is a small, fast and simplified version of the unparalleled music experience, very similar to the main applications of Spotify.

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