Be it on a beach in Cancun, Mexico, or in a quaint village in France, we want access to our favorite songs and playlists when on holiday. We’ve discussed if Spotify works on a plane in another post.
It’s time to figure out what happens to the music streaming service when you land.
Will Spotify still work in another country? What should you do before you travel abroad?
Additionally, there are other reasons when your location becomes an issue. How? Most commonly, you may want to buy a cheaper premium plan by signing up to Spotify from another region.
Worse yet, you could belong to one of those regions where Spotify is still not available.
Keeping that in mind, we wrote this article to discuss the relationship between region, country, and Spotify’s service. We also explain how users can use a VPN (a virtual protected network) to avail of the music streaming service on desktop and Android.
So, let’s get straight to it.
Does Spotify work in Mexico?
Spotify free or premium accounts will work if you travel or move to Mexico. Users with a free plan can only use their accounts in Mexico for 14 days.
To use Spotify (free) for more than 14 days, you must change the country in your profile via the account settings.
We input our location or country of residence when we sign up for a Spotify account. You can go back and change it if you are traveling to Mexico for a short duration.
If you created a Spotify account using Apple or Facebook, go to that profile and change the country there. Note that changes to your location will only reflect in your profile when in the new country.
Lastly, you don’t need to change your country if you have a Spotify Premium account. However, you may need to update the payment method if you want to set up a new method based in that country.
Generally, this is only applicable if you are moving to another country for good. Again, any changes made to the payment method will take effect from the next billing cycle.
For more information about changing Spotify country take a look at this YouTube video.
How much is Spotify in Mexico?
A Spotify Premium plan costs 100 to 115 Mexican dollars (MXN) a month, which equates to 5.58 USD per month. The same Premium plan costs $9.99 in America. Supermarkets in Mexico also sell pre-paid Spotify cards that cost 100 pesos per month or 5 USD (approx.).
Spotify doesn’t cost $9.99 per month in Mexico as it does in America. The company prices subscriptions based on what the local market can bear.
It’s called localized pricing – setting rates based on what consumers in a particular country are willing to pay for their services.
Which country has the cheapest Spotify?
As of today, India has the cheapest Spotify Premium plan costing 1.58 USD per month for an individual subscription. Generally speaking, Asian countries have relatively cheaper premium prices. The price ranges from 1.58 USD to 8.86 USD per month, subject to the currency rates.
Premium plans in Indonesia cost $3.44 per month. The same plan costs $3.89 in Thailand. 2.99 USD seems to be a recurring number when you look at a list of Spotify premium prices in Asia and Africa.
On the other hand, Premium plans are priced upwards of 8 USD in South Korea and Japan, not that different from what it costs in the USA.
For the curious-minded, here is a handpicked list of Spotify prices – ranked lowest to highest – for premium plans in ten different countries:
- India: 58 USD | 1.44 Euros | 119 INR
- Indonesia: 44 USD | 2.94 Euros | 49,990 rupiahs
- Thailand: 89 USD | 3.31 Euros | 129 baht
- Brazil: 49 USD | 3.92 Euros | 16.99 reais
- Malaysia: 15 USD | 5.24 Euros | 24.99 ringgit
- Australia: 90 USD | 7.59 Euros | 11.99 AUD
- USA: 99 USD | 8.52 Euros
- Sweden: 18 USD | 9.53 Euros | 99 kroner
- France: 72 USD | 9.99 Euros |
- UK: 12 USD | 11.13 Euros | 9.99 Pounds
Why does Spotify cost less in some countries?
The countries with relatively low prices often have large populations. So, the revenue potential remains the same if a larger volume of people can buy Spotify Premium plans at low prices.
It boils down to socio-demographic factors and macroeconomics. You can read more about Spotify’s approach to market growth and expansion here.
Some of these prices are sourced from Spotify’s country page (with the help of Google Translate) and through other trustworthy sources. But rates may vary as the currency rates fluctuate or may reflect changes made to Spotify’s pricing plans in those countries.
Which countries does Spotify not work in?
Spotify is yet to offer its music streaming service in a handful of countries. The bulk of the countries where Spotify does not work is in Africa. The company has recently made inroads by offering services in South Africa and Egypt but still has a lot of ground to cover on the continent.
Since its launch, Spotify has expanded to 170 countries with nearly 350 million active monthly users. In 2021, Spotify announced a massive international expansion plan to tap the markets in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.
It added 36 languages to its platform and launched its audio streaming service in 85 more countries to bring an additional billion people to the platform.
Spotify is available in Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, and numerous other countries. If the service is not available in your region, you will get a “Spotify is currently not available in your country” notification. Visit the website to check if Spotify is available in your country.
You can use Spotify with a virtual protected network (VPN) if Spotify has not launched its services where you live. You can also download Spotify by changing your App Store location to a country where it is available.
We will explain how to do the above in the upcoming sections.
Can you use a VPN to get Spotify cheaper?
You can use a VPN – a virtual private network – to get Spotify cheaper. Ensure that you download a trustworthy VPN with an extensive collection of countries (read: servers). Express VPN or Nord VPN are two well-known options worth considering to get Spotify cheaper.
After you download the VPN, change the server to a Spotify-approved location. Sign up or log in to your Spotify account and get the premium plan for cheaper. Get on to listening to music!
Typically, internet users prefer the security and anonymity of a VPN. But for many others, it has become a nifty hack to save money on a Spotify premium membership. However, this backdoor process is a little complicated if you aren’t tech-savvy.
Follow these points if you use a VPN:
- a) use a reputable VPN with a Spotify-approved server location
- b) get a VPN with pro-grade encryption and good connection speed, and
- c) find a VPN available with a large number of servers.
Spotify is VPN compatible but they do have anti-VPN technology that can detect the above process. If that happens, simply change your IP address to the same location as before.
It should resolve the problem and you will be able to use Spotify again.
For more information about getting a cheap Spotify subscription take a look at this YouTube video.
How to use VPN to get Spotify on Android?
It’s fairly simple to download and use Spotify on Android devices using a VPN if you follow these simple steps. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Open the VPN and search for Spotify
Step 2: Download Spotify (Install the Spotify App)
Step 3: Switch on the VPN
Step 4: Use the VPN to create a Spotify account
Step 5: Enjoy the music streaming services on Spotify in your country
Note: You might get logged out of Spotify every 14 days. Don’t fret. Simply switch on the VPN and log in to your free or premium Spotify account. It will work as before.
How to use a VPN to get Spotify on a Desktop or Laptop?
As we saw with Android, the process to get Spotify on a desktop is dead simple. All you need is a VPN, a desktop, and Spotify’s desktop App. Here’s how to set up Spotify using a VPN:
Step 1: Install a VPN on your desktop and visit the Spotify website
Step 2: Download the Spotify desktop app (the icon on the top-right of the website)
Step 3: Switch on your VPN
Step 4: Sign up for a Spotify account
Step 5: Enjoy smoothly streaming Spotify with your Free or Premium plan.
Conclusion
There is another way to not use a VPN every time you want to listen to music on Spotify. If you don’t have Spotify on Android, desktop, or iOS device, you can use the Spotify web app. However, you need to sign up to use the Spotify web player.
Once you are signed up to Spotify (with or without VPN), visit www.open.spotify.com from your device and log in with your account. You can now stream music or use their services anytime, anywhere. Leave a comment to let other readers know about the workarounds you use.
