Spotify Not Worried About Indian Govt. Support To Domestic Tech Startups, Eyes Stronghold

Sweden-based music streaming service Spotify is planning to become a strong player in the Indian market at a time when the central government is focusing on promoting domestic tech startups, CEO Daniel Ek said during post earning conference call.

According to Ek, the growing user interest in Spotify may prove to be a major factor behind this aim.

This announcement comes in after the company’s accidental revelation about its launch in the country.

This month, the music streaming service also signed a global content deal music and film company T-Series. Under this partnership, T-Series will provide its entire music catalogue on the Spotify platform. This move was, however,  seen as a precursor to its launch in India.

Spotify was launched in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and currently boasts of 200 Mn global monthly active users. It has been looking to expand its operations in India since March this year. However, American music labels Warner, Sony and Universal held it’s Indian expansion by not giving the company a licence to use their music in the country.

In November, it was reported that the company could launch in India in the next 6 months, with an extended trial period.

Further the company, also reportedly hired former OLX India CEO Amarjit Singh Batra as its country head and also got Saavn executive Gaurav Malik on board.

Spotify is aiming for a top position in the country at a time when many of the global internet giants such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Amazon have been facing troubles to develop their business in India.

The major global tech companies are facing issues as the central government has been looking to introduce policies and scheme to boost the growth of domestic players.

Spotify Looks To Tap The Growing Indian Music Streaming Market

According to a report by Statista, the revenue from the digital music segment is projected to reach $246 Mn (INR 1,752 Cr)  by 2023 from $235 Mn (INR 1, 674 Cr) in 2019. With growing focus on over-the-top (OTT) space, domestic players are looking to scale up their business.

At a time when the Indian music streaming players are stepping up their game and is also being aided by the government policies to aid domestic companies, Spotify may have to put in an effort and make unique offerings to attract the user base.

In March 2018, two Indian music streaming giants Reliance Jio Music and Saavn had merged their operations to strengthen their foothold in the Indian music streaming market. The combined valuation of both the companies stood at $1 Bn (INR 7,124 Cr).

Not only domestic players but Spotify will also have to compete with global companies who have been offering streaming services in the country. In February 2018, Amazon had launched its Amazon Prime Music and has also entered into several partnerships with Indian music brands like T-Series, and Saregama, Zee Music to build localised content for the Indian users.