Spotify has confirmed that despite launching a new music service for Facebook, it has no immediate plans to launch in Australia.
Spotify founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon (Credit: Spotify)
During Facebook’s f8 conference this week, Spotify – a music streaming service taking Europe and America by storm — announced closer integration with the Facebook platform, including the ability to listen to music with friends.
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek made an appearance during the f8 keynote to spruik the new integration, and made an off comment that the Spotify service is “international” though didn’t clarify if that meant the service – or at least the Facebook side of things – would soon be launching in other countries including Australia.
However in a statement overnight, a Spotify spokesperson confirmed the company’s stance on its availability in Australia hasn’t changed, despite the launch of the new Facebook integration on a global site.
“The Spotify service is international as we are currently available in seven countries across Europe and in the US,” the spokesperson told iTech Report, clarifying the comments made by Ek.
“In terms of anything Australia specific – we aim to be available in every country but we don’t have any announcements to share at the moment,” the spokesperson said, echoing comments made to iTech Report earlier this year when it acknowledged “just how passionate Australian music fans are.”
It’s another blow for Australians eager to gain access to music streaming services which are proving to be increasingly popular overseas, although the signs are beginning to show that streaming services are beginning to take Australia more seriously.
Consumer electrical store JB Hi-Fi signalled its intention last month to launch its own ‘NOW’ streaming service by the middle of next year, while on the video front, rumours continue to persist that catch-up service Hulu is looking at launching local operations.
Other new features announced at Facebook’s F8 conference include a completely revamped profile page, dubbed ‘Timeline’, that completely revolutionises how the service shows a user’s history, as well as a number of changes to its Open Graph.
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