Spotify is now in Indonesia. It’s cheap and even accepts cash

Long anticipated, Spotify launched in Indonesia today.

The premium version of the streaming music service from Sweden is available to Indonesian listeners for IDR 49,000 a month, which amounts to US$3.74.

That’s a sweet deal, considering people in the US pay US$9.99 and Europeans currently pay EUR 9.99 or US$11.28 for the premium service.

The best part about Spotify’s Indonesia launch: it lets users choose from a variety of popular payment methods, including bank transfers and paying cash at a local convenience store.

Here’s what the payment screen looks like (Hat tip to @Aulia Masna for bringing this to our attention):

Source: @Aulia Masna

Spotify demonstrates that it understands the Indonesian market well. Online payments with credit card or PayPal are not widespread, so it’s definitely increasing its chances of attracting paying customers by offering those options.

Going local

Managing director Sunita Kaur did an AMA with Tech in Asia a while ago, and she mentioned that Spotify takes localization seriously. She also hinted the team will adapt to Asian tastes in terms of music content.

“We are currently growing our team of local music editors to make our Asian playlists even more culturally-relevant,” she said in the AMA.

There isn’t one clear leader in Indonesia when it comes to streaming music services. There’s of course Apple Music and Australia’s Guvera, which has gained some relevance since its launch in Indonesia in 2014. Other music streaming services available in Indonesia are Deezer and Joox.

Indonesia’s 260 million strong population is likely to welcome Spotify as a new way to access the world’s musical treasures. The question is how Indonesia’s regulators will react.

When Netflix launched recently, Indonesia’s state-owned telco Telkom decided to block it. Officially it said it wanted to wait for an approval from Indonesia’s censorship board, but business interests probably played a role (it wants to popularize its own iPTV service).