Anghami was invading the western news on the 3rd and 4th of March. “Mideast Spotify challenger Anghami nears SPAC merger” was the headline of an article written by Bloomberg. Yahoo Finance headline: “Spotify competitor Anghami to list on Nasdaq” and more headlines on MSN, Reuters and more listing it as “Spotify competitor”!

Anghami, the Abu Dhabi-based music-streaming service that claims over 70 million users, said it’s listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. Anghami, Arabic for “my tunes,” is merging with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc. The deal marks the first listing on Nasdaq in New York by a home-grown Middle Eastern tech company. Following the deal, Anghami could be valued at close to $300 million, people familiar with the matter said, declining to be named. 

Spotify competitor, Anghami is one of the most successful Lebanese apps in the MENA region. “All the freedom you love; all the freedom you need” is the slogan of the application. You can download the application anywhere on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, cars, PlayStation, wearables, Apple TV and more. Subscribing to the Anghami Plus bundle will grant you unlimited downloads, so you can enjoy playing your music offline, with the live lyrics feature. Including exclusive music from the artist you love, with high quality audio with pristine level (Dolby 320Kbps). Connect your phone remotely without Bluetooth between your smartphone and laptop while importing your old songs from other streaming services so you keep enjoying your freedom. Adding the latest of Anghami Plus feature, the live radio, which is basically playing a radio that can be seen by your friends, they listen while suggesting songs to play, chatting in the comment section and giving a rate out of ten applauses. 

Even if you don’t subscribe to the Plus bundle, you will still be able to use many unique features as stories, radar, chats and music videos. You can share your songs via your stories while reacting to others stories. The Radar is all about keeping up with the latest and identifying the music around you. The chat feature is a simple chat box where you can share songs, chat and discuss your opinions with your friends. Latest Arabic music videos can be watched on Anghami while it dropped out the support of international music videos. 

While Spotify is rising under the “listening is everything” slogan, it offers much less value compared to Anghami. With only 50 million songs compared to 57 million songs on Anghami, Spotify offers with its Premium bundle unlimited song-streaming with noads and 10,000 songs to download. That’s it, no special features. You still can search with radar for the songs playing around you but there’s no live lyrics feature or any other features.

In the end, if you live in Lebanon, your choice might be affected by your economic situation, and Anghami will let you have a plus account for as cheap as $1 unit per month, will you try it?