Spotify Rolls Out Music Streaming Service In South Korea

Spotify Technology announced the launch of its music streaming subscription service in South Korea, taking the total number of its markets worldwide to 93. Shares were up by 1.3% in Tuesday’s pre-market trading after closing 5.6% higher on Feb. 1.

According to Spotify (SPOT), South Korea is the world’s sixth-largest music market. With this launch, the company has plans to further grow the Korean music streaming ecosystem.

Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer of Spotify said, “We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and Korea is rich in both. This launch presents a massive opportunity for us to not only further our mission of bringing new and quality content to more audiences, but also help local Korean artists tap into Spotify’s 320 million listeners worldwide.”

New listeners in Korea can try out a free weeklong trial subscription service on their mobile phones with no credit card information and three months free subscription. This offer from Spotify is valid only for listeners who subscribe to the service before the end of June this year. (See Spotify Technology stock analysis on TipRanks)

Stifel Nicolaus analyst John Egbert reiterated a Buy rating and a price target of $365 on the stock on Feb. 1.

Ahead of the company’s 4Q earnings release on Feb. 3, Egbert commented, “…the company should benefit from numerous tailwinds in 2021, including a recovering ad market, the return of more daily commutes / normal listening patterns, new geographic rollouts, ramping podcast monetization, and increased adoption of paid marketplace tools.”

The rest of the Street is cautiously optimistic about Spotify with a Moderate Buy consensus rating. That’s based on 9 analysts recommending a Buy, 2 analysts suggesting a Hold, and one analyst recommending a Sell on the stock. The average analyst price target of $363.45 implies 9.3% upside potential to current levels.

Spotify scores a Market Neutral 7 out of 10 on TipRanks’ Smart Score, which indicates that the stock is expected to perform in line with market expectations.