Spotify adds dLocal for cash, online bank transfers

Cross-border payments provider dLocal is offering its technology platform for Spotify users in Latin America, enabling alternative payment methods for underbanked Spotify Premium customers purchasing digital music.

Through dLocal's platform, Spotify looks to increase its accessibility in Latin America, where it says 63% of the population is unbanked and more than 90% do not have a credit card.

As such, Spotify Premium users will be able to make payments through online bank transfers and cash payments through online codes/vouchers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico.

“In Latin America, each country has its own distinct identity with consumers who participate in the economy in different ways," Alejandro Esperanza, vice president of account managers at San Francisco-based dLocal, said in a Tuesday press release.

"Success hinges on the ability to understand each market and how their consumers prefer to pay for the goods and services they enjoy," Esperanza said. "This partnership underscores our commitment to helping the world’s biggest companies, like Spotify, realize the full potential these markets offer.”

Spotify Premium users paying in cash would use Rapipago or Pagofacil points in Argentina; Servipag in Chile; Baloto or Efecty points in Colombia; OxxoPay in Mexico; and Pago Efectivo in Peru.

dLocal's Payins solution is available for those in Chile and Colombia who do not want to commit to a Spotify Premium subscription and prefer a prepaid method by paying with cash or a bank transfer to lock in a certain number of months.

Two years ago, Spotify added an alternative payment option for debit card use in Brazil with Ebanx and Worldline, a move to again seek better market penetration in a country where use of cash dominated.