
The world's largest music streaming platform, Spotify, launched its service in Korea on Feb. 2. It is a latecomer to the Korean music market, where local platforms, such as Melon and Genie, have already competed fiercely to increase their shares of the market. Spotify has brought its highly personalized music recommendation service to the forefront to attract users, but the main talking point at the moment isn't the personalization ― it's the price.
In Korea, the Sweden-based company offers two monthly subscription plans ― Premium Individual (10,900 won, or $9.75) and Duo (16,350 won). However, an individual account is more expensive than most local alternatives, which are usually around 8,000 won. Although new listeners can try out Premium for free for some time if they choose to subscribe before the end of June, Spotify offers neither a free ad-supported subscription nor Premium Family options. The latter provides up to six accounts for family members under one roof at about 16,700 won per month.
The streaming giant apparently recognizes the issue but believes, given the different value it creates for customers, that its prices are reasonable.
( Read more... )source:
The Korea Times