“It’s a massive group of people who don’t want to or can’t pay to download music,” co-founder Luis Soto Durazo, who heads the company’s Latin America operations, told Rest of World. Latin America’s unwillingness to pay for music is what makes it an attractive market for Trebel. Latin Americans are also reluctant to pay for content: Per capita, Mexicans spent less than $1.7 on music streaming and other services in 2022, Brazilians spent $1.23 that same year.
The same is true for Colombia, where about 10% of Trebel users live. Mexico, Trebel’s main target market with over 60% of its users, has consistently been one of music streaming’s biggest global listener bases. Latin America is home to some of the world’s most avid - and frugal - music fans. Unlike many major music streaming services, Trebel does not charge users to download music onto their devices. These numbers are still dwarfed by Spotify’s 102 million in Latin America and the more than 75 million MAUs that stream YouTube in Mexico and Colombia. Officially launched in 2018, Trebel took off last year when its user base almost doubled, surpassing 13 million monthly active users (MAUs) in April, according to company data. In Latin America - where disposable income is tight, data is expensive, and demand for music apps is high - free downloads are a game changer for many. Both of those platforms also have free, ad-supported tiers, but unlike them, Trebel does not charge users to download music to their devices.
Trebel, headquartered near Los Angeles, is taking on established music streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube in Latin America - a region that the streaming giants have long dominated. “The ads get on my nerves a bit, but it’s not like I’ll stop using the app because of that,” she said.
Instead of paying per download, she earns credits on the app by watching ads. Instead, a handful of years ago, Medina Duarte went for Trebel, a then little-known app that allowed her to legally download free songs. “I mostly listen to just a few songs by my favorite singers - Miguel Bosé, mainly,” she told Rest of World. Medina Duarte, who lives in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco, never really considered paying for subscriptions like those offered by YouTube or Spotify. Though Yumi Medina Duarte splurged on a new phone six years ago, she drew the line at paying to download music onto it.
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