Learn more at www.oneskyapp.com/ In this deep-dive case study, learn the 3 key growth strategies that Spotify used to gain early footing in the APAC region, break past Asian cultural and technological barriers, and continue to grow their customer engagement in 7 key markets. Want to go global yourself? Visit www.oneskyapp.com to see how our localization team has helped companies like Spotify expand internationally. Questions? Comments? Contact us at hello@oneskyapp.com

1. How to Win Asia Like Spotify
H O W T O
Win Asia
Like Spotify

2. PAID USERS
50M+
REVENUE
US$5B+
MARKETS
60+
Spotify is
dominating
WORLDWIDE
in 2017.

3. r
In 10 years, Spotify
has expanded into
60+ INTERNATIONAL
MARKETS

4. Andorra, Argentina, Austria,
Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong,
Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia,
Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand,
Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines,
Poland, Portugal, Singapore,
Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Uruguay and USA.
making them
TRULY GLOBAL.

5. 20.0M
6.5M
6.3M
3.9M
3.0M*
1.0M
As of: Jun 15
/ Oct 15
/ Jun 15
/ Jun 15
/ Jul 15
/ Sep 15
Source: How Apple Music Measure Up Against the Competition by Tech Chart of the Day by Statista
* Including Napster
Compared
to other
competitors

6. Spotify’s
Growth
Jul
‘10
Mar
‘11
Jun
‘11
Nov
‘11
Jan
‘12
Aug
‘12
Dec
‘12
Mar
‘13
May
’14
Nov
’14
Jan
’15
Jun
’15
Mar
’16
Aug
’16
0.5
million
1 1.5
2.5 3
4
5
6
10
12.5
15
20
30
39
40
millions
0
10
20
30
40
Paying subscribers in millions
Source: Spotify's revenue hits €2bn, but when will it make money? by The Telegraph
Sep
‘16

7. How did
Spotify
GROW SO FAST?

8. THEY USED A
Global-First
Strategy

9. GET INTO AS MANY
MARKETS AS POSSIBLE
Spotify’s approach was to
from the beginning.

10. THE RE SU LT ?
MASSIVE
SUCCESS for Spotify.

11. MASSIVE
SUCCESS
So successful that
Spotify has managed to
take off where many
other companies
have failed:

12. ASIA

13. Since 2013, Spotify has
successfully launched in
7including Japan.
MARKETS
IN ASIA

14. including Japan.
Since 2013, Spotify has
successfully launched in
7 MARKETS
IN ASIA
Japan’s music
industry is a
notoriously difficult
market to enter.

15. We want to be
EVERYWHERE
“
”
IN ASIA.
Sunita Kaur
Managing Director for Spotify Asia

16. So far,
Spotify is
winning
in Asia.
Singapore,
Hong Kong,
Taiwan,
Japan,
Indonesia,
Malaysia,
Philippines
20%Region-wide
3XSince Spotify
entered the
region
Successful
Markets
Free to Paid
Users Conversion
Music
Streaming
Growth

17. How’s
Spotify
doing all
this?

18. Asia-Specific
Strategies

19. We
Would
Know.
Here at
We've helped thousands of companies
like Spotify go global.
We’ve picked up a few tips along the way.
… and more

20. HOW’S SPOTIFY DOING THIS?
Asia-Specific
Strategies
Ready to learn how they did it?
Let’s go.

21. Spotify’s
3Strategies for
WINNING ASIA

22. # Target
in mobile-first markets
MOBILE
CHANNELS
1

23. Source: https://www.consumerbarometer.com/en/graph-builder/?question=M4&filter=country:united_states,china,hong_kong_sar,australia,korea,malaysia,singapore
Regions like
SOUTHEAST ASIA
are predominantly
MOBILE-FIRST.

24. So what did Spotify do?

25. TACTIC 1
Meet your users
where they are
#1 | TARGET MOBILE CHANNELS

26. JAPAN’S TOP
LINEmessaging app
Before even setting up a local office,
Spotify Japan partnered with

27. to enable
sharing Spotify tracks
over LINE’s mobile app.

28. And for good reason!
Messaging apps are widely
popular in the region.

29. LINE has …
MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS
218.4M+ USERS IN JAPAN, TAIWAN,
THAILAND, AND INDONESIA
70%

30. TACTIC 2
Seek local
partnerships
#1 | TARGET MOBILE CHANNELS

31. To gain traction
as outsiders,
Spotify
partnered with
in the region
LOCAL
TELECOM
COMPANIES

32. for deals on their paid subscription.

33. Ex. Globe in the
Philippines
Maxis in Malaysia

34. # Speak the
LOCAL
LANGUAGE
2

35. Nobody likes feeling a
language or
cultural barrier
on their home turf.

36. Users expect their experience to
even if they’re interacting with
an international company.
feel local,

37. How did Spotify
OVERCOME THESE
BARRIERS?

38. TACTIC 1
Create local language
advertising that
appeals to locals
#2 | SPEAK THE LOCAL LANGUAGE

39. Before the Japan launch,
Spotify produced several
to introduce local audiences
to their platform and brand.
TV PRINT ADS
&

40. The videos were culturally on point and
featured funny scenes from
everyday life in Japan.
They were a hit.

41. TACTIC 2
#2 | SPEAK THE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Invest in a
good translations and
local content

42. Spotify understands the
importance of
HIGH-QUALITY
TRANSLATIONS.

43. Spotify understands the
importance of
HIGH-QUALITY
TRANSLATIONS.
The company invests in building
expert localization teams.

44. Spotify understands the
importance of
HIGH-QUALITY
TRANSLATIONS.
The Spotify
platform is
available in
with regional variants.
languages,20

45. Spotify’s Asia
strategy involves
improving local
content
for target markets.

46. ”
VERY, VERY STRONG
LOCAL MUSIC CONTENT.
We tend not to launch in a market until we
have a very robust local music catalogue,“Because we want to make sure that we’ve got
Source: We want to be everywhere and there is a strong demand everywhere: Spotify Asia MD by The campaign
- Sunita Kaur,
Managing Director for Spotify Asia

47. (It’s all the rage in the region!)
For Southeast Asia,
they prioritized licensing for
Korean pop music

48. - Elizabeth Low,
Marketing Interactive
“
”
For Asia, the approach has been to go local, with the
music-streaming service actively reaching out to
local artists/labels in each market, which has helped
the company push its user uptake extensively.
This is particularly so for markets such as the
Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

49. # Stay relevant and
engaged in the
LOCAL
COMMUNITY
3

50. Attention span in the
app industry is short.

51. You can make a splash by simply
being “new” to the scene,
but be sure to build that to a wave
before your users lose interest.

52. Attention span in
the app industry is
short.
How does Spotify stay relevant
in all its Asian markets?

53. TACTIC 1
Build communities
through localized
social media channels
#3 | ENGAGE THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

54. To build their brand and engage
their users in local markets,
Spotify invests in building
online communities in each
of their markets.

55. Here are 2 examples of local social content in
Indonesia and Hong Kong.

56. Here are 2 examples of local social content in
Indonesia and Hong Kong.

57. - Sunita Kaur,
Managing Director for Spotify Asia
“When we launched this new feature
people were talking about it in social
media. Our best marketers are
Spotify users.”

58. TACTIC 2
Engage users through
local trends and news
#3 | ENGAGE THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

59. It’s crucial to build a
strong, long-lasting product.

60. But don’t forget that the
experience needs to feel fresh for
users as well!

61. Keep up with
local users’ concerns
and let them know you care.

62. When Singapore and Malaysia were
affected with smoke from
neighboring Indonesia’s forest fires…

63. …Spotify responded with a
tongue-in-cheek special playlist,
“Hazed and Confused”

64. …featuring 40 fiery tracks like
Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire”
and Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe.”
The response was great!

65. # # #
Spotify’s 3 Strategies for Winning Asia
Target
mobile channels
in mobile-first
markets
Speak the
local language
Stay relevant and
engaged in the
local community
2 31

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