Is Spotify finally coming to South Africa? This job listing suggests yes

Swedish export Spotify is one music streaming service that’s infamously not available in South Africa, but that might be about to change.

A job advertisement on Spotify’s listings portal suggests that the company is seeking an employee vested in the South African music scene. Said employee will become the titular senior editor and music programmer who will “join Spotify Shows and Editorial team, responsible for South Africa”.

“You will identify and curate first rate music playlist listening- and programming experiences for a multitude of our moods, moments, and genres, demonstrate a passion for performance-oriented analytics, and will have your ear to the ground in the music community, focusing on South Africa,” the listing continues.

“Above all, your work will impact the way the world experiences music.”

The requirements continue to punt a required strong knowledge of the South African music scene:

• You have a deep knowledge of music and culture, with a focus on South Africa and its music marketplace
• You will identify and curate first rate music playlist listening- and programming experiences for a multitude of our moods, moments, and genres, demonstrate a passion for performance-oriented analytics, and will have your ear to the ground in the music community, focusing on South Africa. Above all, your work will impact the way the world experiences music.

While this is merely a job listing and not an actual announcement of a push into the South African market, these are often indicators of companies’ future plans and strategies.

Spotify initially pondered a move into South Africa in 2014

It also isn’t the first time that Spotify has pondered the move. In 2014, a partnership between the streaming service and telecoms giant Vodacom was hinted. But that ultimately failed to materialise.

But music streaming in South Africa has seen a marked boom in 2017, and a dense market filled with competition from Apple, Google and Tencent is proving healthy.

The Swedish company itself is riding a high of its own, now boasting 140-million users worldwide alongside 50-million paid subscribers. And although losses doubled at the beginning of 2017, its revenue rose by over 50% to US$3-billion.

Spotify declined to comment on the specifics of the listing when quizzed on Twitter.

“Hey! We’re afraid we don’t have any info to share, but we’re launching regularly in countries around the world,” its customer care account tweeted.

1: Hey! We’re afraid we don’t have any info to share, but we’re launching regularly in countries around the world. Sign up…

— SpotifyCares (@SpotifyCares) September 12, 2017

A coy reply, but we can only imagine that Spotify’s South African debut is drawing ever nearer.

Feature image: Jon Åslund via Flickr (CC 2.0 BY, cropped/resized)