Spotify launched its service in Russia and 12 other markets in Eastern Europe and Asia, seeking to capitalise on increased user demand for music streaming.

In addition to Russia, the service went live for iOS and Android users in Albania; Belarus; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Croatia; Kazakhstan; Kosovo; Moldova; Montenegro; North Macedonia; Serbia; Slovenia; and Ukraine.

The Sweden-based company explained consumers are increasingly adopting streaming services, with Russia alone being in the global top-20 markets for such services.

Spotify said its Russian move opened the door “for nearly 250 million fans to start discovering new music from their countries and around the world”.

Gustav Gyllenhammar, VP of markets and subscriber growth, said it delivered a customised experience for Russian users, with almost 100 tailored playlists, and options to share songs, albums and playlists on Instagram.

In October 2019, music industry specialist MusicAlly said total mobile phone subscriptions in Russia stood at more than 227 million, citing numbers by music rights database Heaven 11 showing 12 million Russians had an audio streaming service subscription at end-2018, up from 4 million in 2017.

The International Federation of Phonographic Industry placed Russia as the 17th-largest streaming market globally, tipping it to enter the top ten by 2030.

Spotify faces competition from rival streaming services including Yandex Music, Zvooq and Boom.