Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Photo credit: Spotify

Music streaming service Spotify is set for a foray into a major foreign market, this time, into Russia, as first reported by music news site Music Business Worldwide (MBW). MBW reports Spotify will launch in Russia on the 15th of July and will likely partner with local mobile network provider MTS for its launch. A Russia launch would represent Spotify’s first major global expansion in a 16-month period, the last being a launch in India in February of last year. Russia is a big internet market that’s home to about 144 million people, including more than 95 million smartphone users.

According to stats from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Russia was the fastest-growing music market in 2019, with a 50.3 percent year-on-year revenue increase. Spotify apparently wants to capitalize on this growth. “We’ve talked about both Russia and South Korea as the markets we want to be in and nothing has changed there,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is known to have stated during a company conference call in April. A Russia launch would represent the 80th country Spotify has taken its music streaming service to.

Currently, music streaming in Russia seems to be dominated by domestic social network VKontakte. A Spotify launch would likely pose a challenge to the Russian social network.