While it continues to lack clarity in terms of copyright after a legal battle with Warner Music Group, Spotify has now launched in India. It first opened its Mumbai office a year ago.
The platform is available in the world’s second most populous country – a market of more than 1.3 billion people – with new features tuned to Indian music fans’ personal tastes.
India is the fastest growing market globally for mobile apps. The number of active internet users is estimated at over 400 million, as mobile internet and smartphones become faster and more affordable.
Spotify’s India launch follows the company’s recent expansion across MENA and South East Asia, bringing the total number of Spotify markets to 79. It has 207m users, including 96m subscribers.
Indian users can access local and international music by downloading the free app, or subscribing to the premium package for 119 rupees monthly (£1.27).
“As Spotify grows, our goal is to bring millions of artists and billions of fans together from every country and background,” said Daniel Ek, Spotify founder and CEO. “India has an incredibly rich music culture and to best serve this market, we’re launching a custom-built experience. Not only will Spotify bring Indian artists to the world, we’ll also bring the world’s music to fans across India. Spotify’s music family just got a whole lot bigger.”
Spotify has redesigned the music experience for India with features including multi-language music recommendations (including Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu), every song on demand via Spotify’s free service and playlists made for India. Indiestan, Rap91 and Punjabi 101 sit alongside other international playlists, including RapCaviar and Viva Latino.
Spotify also has a series of playlists featuring the best music from Bollywood. Algorithmic playlists track what’s trending in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.
“Spotify’s arrival in India is a big step forward in our overall global growth strategy,” Cecilia Qvist, Spotify’s global head of markets. “A fundamental piece of that strategy is staying connected to global culture while allowing room for local adaptation, and we’ve certainly achieved that with our India launch.
“We’ve worked closely with local teams of musicians, creators and cultural tastemakers to ensure Spotify is going to be loved, used and favoured by people all over India whether they’re listening to local Bollywood and Punjabi hits, or discovering curated global playlists of K-pop or Reggaeton.”
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