Spotify arrives in Vietnam more than two years later than its competitor

Sweden-based music, podcast, and video streaming service Spotify has become available to users in Vietnam since Monday, in its expansion to 64 markets worldwide.

Limited songs and features are available for free with advertisements, while additional features such as improved streaming quality and downloads are offered via paid subscriptions.

In Vietnam, customers can upgrade to a premium account for VND59,000 (US$2.60) a month, after a 30-day free trial.

Vietnam was among three countries involved in Spotify’s market expansion on Monday, which also saw the Swedish company expanding its reach to South Africa and Israel.

The combined population of the three countries is approximately 160 million, making it Spotify’s biggest international expansion since it became available in Thailand in August last year, Music Business Worldwide reported.

Monthly premium subscriptions in South Africa and Israel cost $5.08 and $5.78, respectively.

Spotify’s arrival in Vietnam marks another entrance by a global streaming service into the country of close to 95 million people, after Apple Music and Netflix.

Apple Music, a music and video streaming service developed by U.S. tech giant Apple Inc., was launched in Vietnam in June 2015, offering three months of free trial to new subscribers and a monthly subscription of $2.99 in following months.

Spotify expects competition from Vietnamese music streaming service Zing MP3, which has built up an active user base of millions since its launch in 2007.

Vietnamese pop singer My Tam, who in January became Vietnam’s first artist to be listed on Billboard’s World Albums chart thanks to flying-colors sales of her ninth studio album ‘Tam 9,’ also breaks with tradition in making her latest songs available for streaming on Spotify.

My Tam has been a known opponent of free music streaming sites such as Zing MP3, refusing to make her music available on such platforms and fighting for artists’ rights to be paid for their works.

Spotify counted 159 million monthly active users at the end of 2017, including 71 million premium subscribers, according to the company’s recent F-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Swedish company is planning to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange in the week of April 2 at an established valuation of higher than $20 million, according to Bloomberg.