For Ilia Alekseev, music has always been a passion. He played the flute as a child and later learned the guitar and drums to be part of a band. Now, as the Managing Director of Spotify Russia & CIS, some of Spotify's newest markets, he has the opportunity to spread that love for music to listeners in his market and around the world. Music and the self-expression it embodies help reflect my inner spirit, says Ilia. This makes the company's business very close to me as an individual.
Ilia takes his role-to create ways to connect artists and listeners and help Spotify become the leading audio platform in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova-seriously. To do that, he plans to adapt Spotify to the local tastes and needs of listeners in the market, as well as work to bring the rich and unique musical culture of Russia to the world.
We took a moment to get to know Ilia and the work he's done so far.
1. Just a few months ago, Spotify launched in Russia. What was the reaction like? Russia is one of Spotify's 92 international markets and has a population of about 140 million people, making it one of our largest markets. Before the launch we did a lot of research and localization work to ensure that our product would match local preferences and expectations for all those users.
What's interesting is that the Russian audience had been long awaiting Spotify's entry in the market, so the day before the launch, we saw high emotional anticipation from listeners on social and messaging apps. On the first day we had tremendous download rates, and the news about Spotify's launch was so huge that three days after launch, headlines about Spotify were still trending on Russia's largest news service.
Yet what's massively exciting for us is that there's so much more room to grow in Russia. We're really focused on doing that.
2. How is Spotify supporting Russian artists, both by way of launch and since then? During the first days of launch in Russia, we also wanted to make sure listeners got the warm welcome from local artists Little Big, FACE, GONE.Fludd, MARUV, Mot, Nina Kraviz, Mujuice, Sharlot, Levan Gorozia, Klava Koka, Olga Seryabkina, Malbec, Siuzanna, Rauf & Faik, Max Barskikh, Tima Belorusskikh and Noize MC. International artists Katy Perry, Thirty Seconds To Mars, BTS, Imagine Dragons, Hurts, and Twenty One Pilots also joined the celebration of the long-awaited launch in Russia-that felt amazing!
In analyzing the first 30 days listening data, we discovered that BTS was the most popular artist among Russian listeners but that local artists also prevail in the top songs, genres, and artists. For example, MORGENSHTERN took second place, with Scriptonite, kizaru, and Max Korzh following closely.
We really hope that with the arrival of Spotify in Russia we don't only introduce international artists to the market, but we also allow local artists to expand their international audience. We're already seeing it happening. Recently, the popular Russian DJ Nina Kraviz was featured in Spotify's new suite of track ID playlists that were cocurated by Spotify and DJs from all over the world. They're now available for discovery by 299 million people.
3. How are Spotify's editorial and algorithmic playlists unique to your market? How did this play into your launch strategy? Russia has a long-standing music heritage with various music tastes across the country. Analysis from the first 30 days' listening data showed that, for example, cities such as Yekaterinburg and Perm clearly have a preference for rock music, and Moscow is more about K-Pop.
Prior to the launch, our music editorial team curated more than 100 playlists specifically for Russia-including Hip-Hop Cannon, Pop Non-Stop, Rock Today, Solaris, Indie Squad, More Fume, and Hits of Russian Rock, among others. We saw that this was the right move-some of the local playlists have since become the most popular among Russian listeners. Locally curated playlist Wind In Your Hair, for example, became the most popular among Russians while they were driving.
4. Spotify is known for its ubiquity-meaning listeners can seamlessly transfer what they're listening to between devices and platforms. How are you leaning into this strategy in Russia? We don't want to corner our listeners into one ecosystem. We want to give them freedom to play music across a wide range of devices and offer app integrations with social media, popular apps, gaming consoles, TV and phone services, top brands, and more. We know that Russia is an Android-first market in terms of smartphones and has its own cultural behaviors, but mobile data is cheaper compared to other markets worldwide, so we expect high mobile usage and engagement from our mainly young audience. We took these factors into account when planning and localizing our ubiquity strategy.
This strategy also allows us to feature country-wide partnerships such as the one we have with MTS, one of the largest mobile carriers in Russia, that can now offer its over 78 million-person audience best-in-class personalized music recommendations with special terms. These kinds of partnerships enable people to try out audio streaming services.
5. Finally, if we were to take a look at your recently played, what would we find? I'm a big fan of our local editorial playlists. I really enjoy Neopop, which helps me to navigate through the new wave of Russian pop music. Last week I felt a bit of nostalgia, so I listened to alternative bands from the '90s like Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. And after my 10-year-old son played his Minecraft playlist on my account several times, I discovered some really . . . shall we say cool? new artists in my algorithmic playlists.
Get to know Russia's top hits by streaming one of Ilia's favorite pop playlists
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
As the days grow shorter and the nights get darker, there's nothing like getting swept up in a story that sends shivers down your spine. In honor of spooky ...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
For Ilia Alekseev, music has always been a passion. He played the flute as a child and later learned the guitar and drums to be part of a band. Now, as the Managing Director of Spotify Russia & CIS, some of Spotify's newest markets, he has the opportunity to spread that love for music to listeners in his market and around the world. Music and the self-expression it embodies help reflect my inner spirit, says Ilia. This makes the company's business very close to me as an individual. 
