Spotify plans to launch in South Africa during 2017, industry sources have told MyBroadband.<\/p>\n
This was confirmed by the\u00a0recent posting of a senior editor\/music programmer\u00a0job advert<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for South Africa on the company’s website.<\/p>\n The position states that applicants will play a senior editorial role in daily programming and strategy for South Africa, but will be based in either London or Dubai.<\/p>\n It also requires a “deep knowledge of \u00a0South African music and culture” as well as at least five\u00a0years of experience in the music industry, programming music for TV, radio or other media networks.<\/p>\n Earlier reports indicated that Spotify was preparing to enter the South African market as early as 2014, but the move reportedly fell through in the final stages.<\/p>\n Steep competition<\/strong><\/p>\n Spotify currently leads the subscription streaming music industry, with over 60 million subscribers and 140 million active users.<\/p>\n However, its late entry into the local market means it is likely to be met with steep competition.<\/p>\n Simfy Africa<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0launched in August 2012, selling unlimited, ad-free music streaming for R60 per month.<\/p>\n It was followed by Nokia MixRadio and\u00a0Music+<\/strong><\/a>, Deezer,\u00a0Rara<\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0Rdio<\/strong><\/a>. Only Deezer has survived the industry shifts that followed.<\/p>\n Other popular international services such as Google Play Music have also been able to gain market share over the past few years, with Telkom <\/a><\/strong>making waves in August after it announced that it would be zero-rating its streaming.<\/p>\n
\n