India’s lucrative and competitive music streaming market will now see a big global entry. Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming service provider, is reportedly all set to enter the Indian market in the first quarter of 2019. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company has already secured deals with major music rights holders in India.
Spotify is stepping up its international expansion and has recently introduced its streaming service to 13 territories in the Middle East and North Africa. The company has been laying the groundwork for launching operations in the Indian market for quite some time. It recently hired a head of communications in the country and poached an executive Gaurav Malik from its rival Saavn.
The expansion of Spotify’s service in India is being seen as a major test for the company’s ability to get customers in the “rest of world” markets, which includes regions like Australia, Japan, Israel, and South Africa.
Being the largest paid music streaming service provider, the company is largely limited to three regions — North America, Latin America, and Europe. These three regions contribute to over 90 percent of Spotify’s paying customers.
India, on the other hand, is the fastest growing music market, with a population of over 1.3 billion and growing internet penetration in various regions within the country. Thus, India may help boost Spotify’s “rest of world” subscribers, which has around 8 million subscribers as of September 2018.
T-series, one of the largest music rights holder in India, has confirmed a deal with Spotify. Bhushan Kumar, the managing director of record label T-Series, said that his company is working with Spotify. “Our deal with them is on,” he said in an interview.
It remains to be seen how Spotify manages to lure new customers and convert them to become paid subscribers. In India, Spotify will be competing against the likes of Saavn, Gaana, Apple Music, Wynk Music, Google Play Music, and others.
