Apple Music has expanded into four new markets, bringing the streaming service to Albania, Brunei, Burkina Faso and Pakistan as Apple continues to grow the global reach of its music platform.

Apple has expanded Apple Music availability to four additional countries, opening the streaming service to listeners in Albania, Brunei, Burkina Faso and Pakistan.

The expansion was first spotted following an update to Apple’s official media services availability page. Apple now lists Apple Music as available in all four countries.

According to 9to5Mac, the move takes Apple Music’s total availability to 172 countries and regions worldwide.

For artists and labels, the expansion creates four additional markets where releases distributed to Apple Music can potentially reach new listeners.

Which countries has Apple Music launched in?

The four new Apple Music markets are:

• Albania
• Brunei
• Burkina Faso
• Pakistan

Apple’s official support pages now show Apple Music among the services available in each country.

The expansion is particularly interesting because these markets cover very different parts of the world.

Albania strengthens Apple Music’s coverage in Europe, Burkina Faso expands its presence in West Africa, Brunei adds another Southeast Asian market and Pakistan gives Apple Music access to a major South Asian music market.

Apple Music arrives in Pakistan

Pakistan is arguably the most significant market among the four additions simply because of its scale.

The country has a population of hundreds of millions of people and a large domestic music scene spanning pop, hip-hop, electronic music, classical traditions and regional styles.

Until now, Apple Music had not been officially available in Pakistan despite the country’s rapidly growing digital audience.

Apple’s support page now lists Apple Music alongside services including the App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple TV app and Shazam in Pakistan.

For Pakistani artists, international artists with audiences in the country and independent labels looking for emerging streaming markets, the launch adds another major platform through which music can be discovered and streamed.

Apple Music is also expanding across Africa

Burkina Faso becoming an Apple Music market continues the gradual expansion of global music streaming services across Africa.

Apple already operates Apple Music across a wide range of African countries, and Burkina Faso now joins that list. Apple’s availability page also confirms services including Apple Podcasts, Apple Arcade, the Apple TV app and Shazam are available in the country.

Africa is increasingly important to the global music industry.

Genres and scenes originating across the continent are reaching international audiences, while smartphone adoption and improving internet access continue to expand the potential market for music streaming.

For independent artists, this means international distribution is becoming increasingly important even when an artist’s core audience begins in one country.

A track released today can potentially find listeners across dozens of markets without artists needing separate distribution arrangements in each territory.

Albania and Brunei also gain Apple Music

Apple Music has now officially launched in Albania and Brunei as well.

In Albania, Apple lists Apple Music alongside Apple Podcasts, Apple Arcade, the Apple TV app and other services.

Brunei now has Apple Music too, although Apple’s current availability information shows some differences between the services offered there and in other Apple markets. For example, while the Apple TV app is available in Brunei, Apple’s support page does not currently list the Apple TV subscription service there.

This highlights how Apple does not necessarily launch every one of its subscription products simultaneously when expanding into a new territory.

Apple continues pushing its services into more markets

The Apple Music expansion comes as Apple continues broadening the international reach of its services business.

Three of the four new Apple Music markets — Albania, Burkina Faso and Pakistan — were also included in Apple’s recent changes that bundled Apple TV and Apple Arcade with iCloud+ in selected markets, according to 9to5Mac. Brunei was the exception.

That suggests Apple is putting more emphasis on growing its services ecosystem outside its largest established markets.

For Apple Music, expanding into additional countries also makes the service more competitive internationally against platforms including Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and regional streaming services.

What does the Apple Music expansion mean for artists?

Every new streaming territory potentially increases the addressable audience for independently released music.

For artists distributing music globally, the importance of these launches goes beyond immediately generating large numbers of streams.

New streaming markets create opportunities for:

• artists to develop audiences in countries they may never have specifically targeted
• local musicians to reach listeners through a major international streaming platform
• playlists and recommendation algorithms to expose regional music to international audiences
• labels and distributors to gather more international streaming data
• catalogue releases to find new audiences long after their original release dates

Global music discovery increasingly ignores traditional geographic boundaries.

TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other social platforms can make a song popular in a country where an artist has never toured or marketed their music. The growing availability of services such as Apple Music makes it easier for that attention to convert into streams.

Apple Music is now available in 172 countries and regions

With Albania, Brunei, Burkina Faso and Pakistan joining the platform, Apple Music is now available across 172 countries and regions, according to 9to5Mac.

Apple Music offers a catalogue of more than 100 million songs and has continued expanding its music ecosystem through features including lossless audio, Spatial Audio, Apple Music Radio and artist-focused services. Apple described the service as operating in more than 167 countries and regions earlier in September, before the latest expansion.

For the music industry, however, the most important part of the latest announcement may simply be that another group of listeners can now access one of the world’s largest music streaming platforms.

And for independent artists distributing their music globally, that means four more countries where their next listener could be waiting.