Spotify sees Southeast Asia as one of its top growth contributors, and the Philippines as one of the major players in the region with artists like Bini shining on the platform.

Leading audio streaming service Spotify reports tremendous growth in the Philippine market, with its audience increasing four-fold since 2019, and local content now leading demand.

In a media briefing, Spotify shares, that while the market used to be dominated by international artists, the Philippines’ top 50 list is now led by local artists.

“Philippine music is louder than ever. Now the Philippines’ top 50 is 75% local, when it was dominated before by international artists,” notes Gustav Black, Spotify’s Managing Director for Southeast Asia.

Aside from a constantly-expanding local audience base, the platform’s global music programs are also giving emerging artists a wider audience in both the local and international arenas. The number of listeners of Filipino girl group Bini, for instance, soared by 500% since joining “Radar,” Spotify’s program for new artists, in 2022. In similar fashion, Marina Summers, experienced a dramatic 860% rise in editorial streams in the first month of joining “Glow,” the platform’s LGBTQIA+ program.

Other artists that have seen their audience expand to other parts of the world (including Filipino audiences in different parts of the world) are SB19, Moira dela Torre, Ben & Ben and Zack Tabudio. These artists have grown their respective audiences in countries such as the USA, Canada, Japan, UK, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Podcasting is likewise catching on, with podcast consumption surging by 1100% in the last five years, and local content comprising 80% of the listenership. With this, Spotify sees the rise of the “podfluencers” as a growing trend in the creator economy.

Supporting Continuous Growth on Spotify

Back says that Spotify recognizes support for emerging talents as one of the biggest challenges in the industry. Part of the company’s response is its support of hyperlocal genres, such as the Pinoy Horror genre, which has grown by 835% in their platform since 2020. They also create partnerships and masterclasses to support brand building and help creators form a deeper connection with their fans.

Spotify says it is looking at continuous bullish growth, with its monthly global active users reaching 626 million as of July 2024, 246 million of which are paid subscribers.

Declining to give specific specific rankings and numbers, the company says it sees Southeast Asia as one of its top growth contributors.

In the Philippines, global data and business intelligence platform Statista says that “Spotify was by far the most downloaded music service and playing app on both Google Play and the Apple Store” in 2023.

Revenues for the music streaming segment in the country are expected to grow further by 29% or $11.5 million from 2024 to 2027, from which Spotify is expected to benefit the most.   

The platform, which is largely dominated by Gen Z users, currently boasts of over 100 million tracks and more than 6 million podcasts.

It paid nine billion dollars’ worth of royalties in 2023. Four billion dollars went to independent artists.