There has been a lot of talk lately about ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Saavn, etc. Some argue that the price of users should be consistent across the globe, but I’m of the opinion that this cant actually be the case if you would like to get decent adoption in lower GDP based countries with high populations (such as India, China, Pakistan, Vietnam and more.)

To obtain high levels of adoption in specific countries like India it is required that local people can afford to use the product at mass. This can only really happen if the price of the subscription matches the GDP level of the country.

If matching pricing with GDP and local living costs then you will never obtain high levels of adoption.

This is why the price of a Spotify or Apple Music subscription in Australia, UK and USA is a lot higher than the price of the subscription in Vietnam, India or China.