As a lot of Zimbabwean music and Spotify lovers know the music streaming business is yet to officially launch in Zimbabwe or in much of Africa really. Like many awesome services from the developed world the service has been hitherto only available in South Africa where it was launched early this year and nowhere else in Africa.
Well that is about to change as the service is expanding to more African countries. Users in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria can now sign up for Spotify without fiddling with proxies or VPN. Though at the moment an invite code is still required to sign up.
Zimbabwe misses out again
When Spotify officially launched right next door in South Africa in March I was hopeful that it would soon come to Zimbabwe and other Sub-saharan countries but it seems that might not happen this year.
While it is understandable why the service would not bother with Zimbabwe given it’s blighted economy there are plenty of sensible markets south of the Sahara. Nigeria has Africa’s largest countries and services have like Uber have called Kenya home with reasonable success.
If you are rich you can make do with Apple Music
A little known fact, I think, is that Apple Music is officially available in Zimbabwe starting at a steep $9.99 a month. Given that’s something like $30 bucks in bollars/zollars on the parallel market that is a pretty steep price tag. If you can afford it you can sign up for the service. Another not so well known fact is that Apple Music does have an Android app so the service is not for iOS and Mac users only.
Unlike Spotify though there is no free tier so the rest of us are just going to have to wait on Spotify to deign us with their presence.
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Deezer is also a worthy competitor to Spotify and Apple Music. It features most of Zimbabwe’s music including golden oldies that you won’t find anywhere else except on old cassettes. Deezer also has a free package limited features, just like Spotify.