Spotify launches a trimmed-down music streaming app for emerging markets

Music streaming service Spotify is launching a simplified app aimed at smartphone users in emerging markets as the company continues its global expansion amid ongoing financial losses.

Spotify Lite, which will be free to download, speeds up installation at only 10 megabytes in size compared to the traditional version three times larger, Cecilia Qvist, global head of markets at Spotify, announced at the Rise tech conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Built for Android devices, the new app will be launched in 36 markets with India and Latin America as the key markets, Qvist said. “We are spending a lot of time trying to build the future of Spotify.”

The Swedish music streaming service, which has 217 million users, is stepping up its efforts in emerging markets such as India and the Middle East to unlock further growth to build on its popularity in the US and Europe. India is one of the fastest-growing regions for Spotify with 2 million users signing up after the launch in February this year.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange a year ago, Spotify reached 100 million paying subscribers in the first quarter of 2019 but has still struggled with profitability, reporting a net loss of €142 million (US$159.3 million) for the period.

“Streaming is still growing and we are present in 79 countries and hopefully still counting. I do think there’s a lot more to do – just look at the penetration of mobile phones as an example across the globe,” Qvist said.