Music-streaming site Spotify announced on Monday that it is headed down under.
The popular Sweden-based service -- which came to the U.S. in the summer of 2011 -- will be bringing its platform of more than 16 million tracks to Australia and New Zealand. The move highlights Spotify's aggressive growth strategy of expanding into new markets.
Although Spotify recently launched in Germany, it has yet to debut in certain regions, including Latin America and Canada. Competitors such as Rdio, which is already popular in Brazil and Canada, and Sony Music Unlimited, which has currently the broadest international availability, are already mainstays in Australia and New Zealand.
However, there is no denying that Spotify has its sights set on global growth.
Unlike its initial offering in the U.S. which featured only six months of free unlimited access, users in Australia and New Zealand will have full access to Spotify indefinitely. In March, Spotify revealed plans to keep the service free past the six month trial. Originally, for those that didn’t sign up for a premium package — ranging from $4.99 to $9.99 a month — the site would be limited to 10 free hours of streaming music each month.