SPOTIFY STARTS STREAMING IN RUSSIA

Spotify launched its music streaming service in Russia today as well as a dozen other regions, among them Croatia, Kazakhstan and Slovenia. Spotify is now available in in 92 markets.

The company stated that the new markets represent 250m potential customers; Russia is currently #17 on the list of countries streaming music.

Spotify premium will cost $2.38 a month, Reuters reported, and the company is working with local distributors and regional labels. There are no podcasts in the region yet.

Other new markets are Albania, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldavia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.

"We can be more local than global competitor, and at the same time, be more global than local competitors ... to really open up a window to the world for both music consumers as well as creators in the industry," Gustav Gyllenhammar, Spotify's VP of Markets and Subscriber Growth, told Reuters this week.