Spotify running a US$8 for a whole year promotion

Spotify is running a R120 for a whole year promotion exclusive to South Africa. Well, exclusive to South African accounts is more like it. There are a lot of Zimbabweans who got tired of waiting for Spotify to come to Zimbabwe and just opened South African accounts.

They would probably have felt a bit angry when Spotify did come to Zimbabwe and started charging a very affordable $2.99 per month while they had to pay a whole R59.99 per month. That’s almost 50% more each month for practically the same content.

How to take advantage of the offer

Now here is the tricky part, remember this deal is exclusive to South Africans and the only site selling gift card you can use is eGifts24. Unlike other stores, this one is pretty good at figuring when you are accessing the site from outside South Africa. Like Netflix kind of good so you will need a VPN or you can temporarily use Hola unblocker- just make sure you uninstall it after you are done with the purchase.

• Go to the promo landing page
• Add the coupon code and checkout
• Pay using EFT, Visa or MasterCard
• The code will be sent to your email
• Go to https://www.spotify.com/redeem
• Enter the card’s code
• Your Spotify account will now get 12 months premium.

Spotify is going the Netflix way when it comes to pricing

Most businesses have already figured out that the developing world doesn’t have much money to spend on things like streaming. Traditionally companies have charged an almost similar price across all countries but this is changing. Netflix has flirted with lower prices in places like India and now Spotify is following its footsteps.

Why is this happening? Are the companies making losses by charging lower prices in these places? Probably not. There are many reasons why streaming companies are going down this route beside the obvious desire to get more signs ups:

• Technically Spotify already charges this price in developed nations for example Family and Student packages so they are familiar with the pricing process behind the lower prices
• It is probable that they will make more profits even with those lower prices as they may be using marginal costing to arrive at the price. The concept of marginal costing is something people don’t get but basically, it means if you have already covered your fixed costs, you can afford to get other customers even if said customers are paying you less as long as what they are paying exceeds the costs of providing the service to them.
• Like Microsoft and it’s Windows and Office software, they want to in-calculate a habit and get us hooked on their products so that even when they start charging more we would have gotten used to Spotify instead of its alternatives.

The last one is one reason why I think Netflix will probably not crack on password sharing either. Typically people who mooch on other people’s accounts aren’t the sort who go out to get their own account. I know certain individuals who never buy their own beer and are always borrowing other people’s PlayStation controllers. Those people will probably not be paying for Netflix. However, getting them hooked will mean that everybody gets used to the Spotify and Netflix way.

Eventually, that might pay off or not. Microsoft is an apt example. Look at how people are desperate to get a working copy of Windows on their laptops instead of using free alternatives. Microsoft has built an ecosystem that is hard to break out of. Everyone expects you to be using Office, their format is universal etc.

The same will happen with Spotify. Artists will flock to it, people will create and share playlists on it. There will be streaming parties using Party mode with people listening to the same songs by a DJ instead of traditional radio. Podcasts will be uploaded there instead of, say iTunes. Spotify will become the Facebook of music even your granny will sign up. Just you wait.

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