Spotify is again expanding its 2018 partnership with Samsung in 2022, the company announced. This year, Samsung and Spotify are working together on a number of cross-platform integrations involving Samsung phones, earbuds, watches, TVs and more. The deal will again include pre-installations of Spotify’s app on Samsung Galaxy phones and Smart TVs, the streamer also noted.
The original partnership was meant to give Samsung a better means of competing with Apple after the failure of its own music streaming service, Milk Music, in 2016. Instead of trying to operate its own music business, it now points users to Spotify, offering deep integrations, as well as subscription deals and discounts along the way. Picking Spotify as a key partner made sense as it’s a clear frontrunner in the streaming space.
This week, Spotify announced a continuation of its pre-install agreement, which will see anyone who purchases a 2022 Samsung Smart TV or Samsung Galaxy phone receiving the Spotify app already installed on the device. In addition, new Spotify users will be able to access a free three-month offer to Spotify Premium. Spotify and Samsung have previously done pre-installations with various devices, including Galaxy S10, S10+, S10e, S10 5G and Galaxy Fold, among other Galaxy A devices.
In addition, Samsung users with Android devices will be able to play Spotify Group Sessions during video calls on Google Meet. Galaxy Watch5 Pro users can use Spotify with Google Assistant on WearOS. And Galaxy Buds2 Pro will be enabled with Spotify Tap, allowing users to play a song when they tap and hold.
Plus, Spotify is offering three free months of Spotify Premium to Samsung users in 85 markets — a list that now includes some newer markets like Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Slovakia, South Korea, Vietnam and parts of Ukraine. (Spotify is excluding the Republic of Crimea, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.)
Since the August 2018 unveiling of the partnership between Spotify and Samsung, the deal has allowed users to switch between devices and carry on listening to a Spotify song or podcast. It’s a win-win for both companies as Spotify has the opportunity to reach new listeners and customers continue using Samsung devices.
A free trial to more markets is Spotify’s way of trying to gain more premium subscribers in its battle with rivals like Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music. Spotify’s subscriber growth exceeded expectations in the recent quarter, with an added 11 million net new listeners and six million premium subscribers, bringing the total to 188 million premium subscribers and 433 million monthly active users.