By Elton Gomes
Spotify may soon be expanding its services to Indian shores. In March 2018, the music streaming company confirmed that it had leased office space in India in 2017.
Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO and co-founder, also confirmed last month that the music streaming giant is also planning to expand its operations to India, Russia and Africa.
At the company’s Investor Day meeting in New York, Ek said that Spotify’s arrival in India was on the cards. However, the firm has yet to specify a launch date of its services. News of Spotify’s expansion plans follows reports of Google urging the streaming service to launch in India. Google is reportedly looking to collaborate with Spotify so that the music streaming app can be made compatible with Google’s smart speakers.
“We want to work with every popular music service that’s available to Indian consumers. We are pushing Spotify to launch in India. We have a great partnership with them, we work globally with them,” Rishi Chandra, Google’s vice president for product management for home products, told PC Mag India.
Spotify’s competition
As Spotify plans to enter the Indian market, it will be up against music streaming apps like Gaana, Saavn, Apple Music, and Google Music. However, Indian users may likely be waiting with bated breath to get check out Spotify’s services. The company may do well by tapping into the ever-growing digital streaming market in India.
However, considering Saavn’s merger with Jio Infocomm, Spotify might have an uphill task in gaining momentum in India. So far, it has refused to divulge further details about its expansion plans in India.
With a considerable amount of Indians yet to experience the online world in India, it is unclear how many more users the streaming app can gain. However, thanks to recently launched affordable internet plans, Spotify may just become a potential game changer in the Indian market.
What this means for the Indian user
Over the past few years, Indians’s music consumption trends have experience significant changes. From the gramophone to the cassette, from the walkman to mobile devicesit appears that in 2018, streaming has become the dominant means of accessing music, surpassing all other types of music consumption.
According to entertainment data tracking and measurement company Nielsen, streaming is rapidly growing, at a yearly rate of up to 76%.
“You dont really have to own anything anymore, because for $10 a month, you can do this: You can have everything,” said David Bakula, senior VP of analytics and client development at Nielsen, Forbes reported.
Besides “having everything,” the ease of consuming music on smartphones is becoming easier due to affordable internet plans.
Spotify’s entry in the Indian market will give Indian users a chance to explore several unknown genres of music. What is more, with several music apps already in the market, the independent music scene is also likely to get a significant boost, as the streaming service is deemed to be a common ground for Indie artists.
Investments worth millions are being pumped into these music streaming apps, seemingly considered the future of the music business. With Spotify’s arrival, it really is anyone’s guess as to what the future holds for music enthusiasts and musicians alike.