ADVERTISEMENT

Spotify Logs In Over A Million Users In India Within Week Of Launch

Spotify has more than one million Indian users across both its free and premium plans.

An attendee checks his mobile handset in front of Spotify House during the South By Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
An attendee checks his mobile handset in front of Spotify House during the South By Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Music streaming service Spotify has garnered over one million users in India in less than a week of its launch in the country.

Spotify, which launched its services in India last week, competes with players like JioSaavn, Amazon Music, Xiaomi-backed Hungama and Gaana in the country where consumption of digital content is on the rise.

When contacted, the Swedish firm confirmed the development, saying since its launch, Spotify has more than one million Indian users across both its free and premium tiers.

The company offers local and international music for Indian listeners with its free app. Users have the option of upgrading to Spotify Premium for Rs 59 onwards per month.

Opinion
Can Spotify Stand Out In India’s Crowded Music Streaming Market?

At the time of India launch, Spotify India Managing Director Amarjit Singh Batra had cited a 2018 report by IMI and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry to state that an average Indian internet user spends 21.5 hours listening to music, per week.

“The same report also says that the income from subscription audio streams tripled from 2017, to Rs 220 crore; that number gives a sense of how Indians are starting to consume music digitally,” he told PTI.

While the number of people paying for music currently is small, an increasing number of users is now seeing value in subscriptions.

Spotify had stated that it has redesigned the music experience for India with exclusive features like multi-language music recommendations and city playlists that list out trending music in various cities.

Users in India get access to more than 40 million songs and 3 billion playlists across Indian and international music on Spotify.

In January 2019, Spotify had inked a global content deal with T-Series that gave it access to the latter's entire Indian song catalogue including Bollywood and regional movie soundtracks, as well as non-film albums and emerging artist content.

Spotify, which is available across 79 markets, has 207 million active users, of which 96 million are paying customers. The company claims to have paid 10 billion euros to rights holders since its launch in October 2008.

During a recent investor call, Spotify co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek had said, given the level of user interest that is being seen for the Spotify brand, "it makes us feel comfortable that we have a good chance of being a very, very strong player in the Indian market".

Opinion
The Background Music To Spotify’s India Launch Is A Crucial Legal Battle On Music Copyright