Today Spotify are proud to announce that their streaming service has launched a BETA invite only service in Japan.
Spotify is the first music streaming service in Japan to offer both a free-to-the-user ad-supported music service and a fully featured ad-free subscription service. Users can listen for free, or alternatively upgrade to Spotify Premium for only 980 yen a month – with the platform available across mobile, tablet, desktop and PlayStation® systems.
Spotify Arrives In Japan
- World’s biggest music streaming service launches in Japan today
- Japan’s first ‘freemium’ music service offers revolutionary music discovery and personalisation features
September 29th, 2016, London, the world’s most popular music streaming service, launches today on an invite-only basis in Japan. Available on mobile, tablet, desktop and PlayStation®, Spotify offers a revolutionary, uniquely Japanese music experience.
With more than 100 million users worldwide, Spotify is the first music service in Japan to offer both a free-to-the-user ad-supported music service and a fully featured ad-free subscription service. Users can listen for free, or alternatively upgrade to Spotify Premium for only 980 yen a month. Subscribers have a range of ways to pay including credit card, carrier billing, in-store and online bank payment.
“We’re incredibly excited to launch Spotify with a uniquely Japanese music experience,” says Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO and Founder. He adds: “With Spotify’s revolutionary discovery and personalisation features that fit your every mood, we aim to help people enjoy more music and connect more artists with fans than ever before.”
Spotify offers:
- Your favourite Japanese and international artists
- Unique discovery and personalisation features including Discover Weekly (a playlist based on your listening habits, updated every Monday) and Release Radar (a playlist of new music based on the artists you follow and listen to the most, updated every Friday)
- Music curated to fit your every taste and mood. Alongside Spotify’s international playlists, Japanese users can enjoy a range of playlists expertly curated by our Tokyo-based team of music experts, including Tokyo Super Hits and Best of J-Rock!
- The ability to create and share any song, album or playlist
- Use mobile, laptop, tablet or PlayStation™Music for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 to control and listen across free and subscription services
- Listen everywhere: Wi-Fi speakers, TV, PlayStation® and more, using the Spotify app as a remote
- Gaming and Running modes alongside Japanese and global streaming charts
- Song lyrics support on mobile – making its global Spotify debut in Japan – alongside desktop lyric support
- Local files sync – play songs stored locally on your mobile device through Spotify
Globally, Spotify has changed the way artists connect with music fans. Musicians want their music to be heard and Spotify has succeeded in introducing artists to millions of people the world over.
In addition, Spotify has delivered more than USD 5 billion/JPY500BN to the music industry since first launching in 2008. Following the Japan launch, Spotify will be available in 60 markets worldwide.
We are also delighted to welcome Ichiro Tamaki, formerly Vice President of Amazon Devices and Kindle Content, Japan, as Spotify’s General Manager, Japan. Ichiro will be based in Tokyo and lead the day-to-day running of Spotify Japan, effective as of October 1st.
Hannes Graah, currently Spotify’s Managing Director, Japan, will take on a new company role as Global Head of New Markets.
Spotify will initially be available on an invite-only basis in Japan before opening to all users. To request an invite code, head to www.spotify.com.
Spotify in numbers:
- Over 100 million active users
- Over 40 million of these users pay
- Over 20,000 new tracks added each day
- Over 2 billion playlists created, with 2 million playlists created every day
- Over USD $5bn/JPY 500BN paid to rights holders since launch in October 2008
- Over 2000 staff
- Available across 60 markets
Free service: Music for everyone, free to the listener everywhere. Spotify gives users all the music they’ll ever need. Listen free on mobile, tablet, computer and PlayStation.
- Users have full access to a wide range of exclusive features including expertly-curated playlists (Browse), personalised playlists (Discover Weekly), Lyrics, MP3 integration, Charts and Running.
- Mobile: Listen to any artist, album or playlist in shuffle mode on your mobile phone for free (Android and iPhone).
- Desktop/Tablet: A total of 15 hours’ on-demand access every 30 days to the full Spotify catalogue on desktop and tablet for free. Run out of music this month? Simply switch to shuffle mode on your mobile.
- Access to every playlist from our local experts and our worldwide community of music fans. Over 2bn in total!
- Spotify is also available for free on PlayStation Music for PS4 and PS3 owners.
- Access to many Spotify features including Browse, Discover Weekly, Running
- Create playlists and share instantly with friends on Spotify, Facebook, Twitter, Line, text, email.
Spotify Premium service: Spotify Premium is like Spotify’s free service, only better. Take your music offline. Play any song, anytime. No skip restrictions. No ads. All for only 980 Yen per month.
- On-demand music (no shuffling) with zero ad interruptions on your computer, phone, tablet and PlayStation 3 and 4.
- High quality streaming (320kbps).
- Listen offline.
- Use Connect to play Spotify on your speaker, TV and car.
- A free 30-day Spotify Premium trial is available to all.
Ways to pay:
Credit card: Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Amex
Carrier billing: NTT Docomo, KDDI, Softbank
Convenience store payment: Lawson, FamilyMart, Ministop, Circle K Sunkus and Seicomart
Online bank and ATM payment
About Spotify
Spotify (Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden, CEO: Daniel Ek) is an award-winning digital music service that gives you on-demand access to more than 30 million tracks. Our dream is to make all the world’s music available instantly to everyone, wherever and whenever you want it. Spotify makes it easier than ever to discover, manage and share music with your friends, while making sure that artists get a fair deal.
Spotify is now available in 60 markets globally with more than 100 million active users and over 40 million paying subscribers.
Since its launch in Sweden in 2008, Spotify has driven more than US $5bn to rights holders. Spotify is now the second biggest source of digital music revenue for labels in Europe, and the biggest music streaming service of its kind globally. www.spotify.com
