SUMMARY
YouTube had launched its music streaming services on March 12
With this record, it places itself ahead of Spotify which had recorded 1 Mn downloads in one week
It had introduced premium paid version for ad-free music for INR 99 per month
The music streaming space in India is witnessing immense competition, especially among the foreign companies looking to strengthen their position in India. After Spotify’s successful entry in the Indian market, YouTube Music has now announced to have hit 3 Mn downloads within one week of its launch.
Google-owned video sharing platform YouTube had launched its music streaming service in India on March 12. It introduced a free ad-supported version of YouTube Music while the premium paid version for ad-free music is for INR 99 per month. It also forayed into the original video streaming market in India with YouTube Originals.
“This year YouTube is celebrating 11 amazing years in India. We’re proud of the extraordinary growth across the platform, especially with music. Right here in India, more and more people are using video for entertainment and learning. And by 2020, it’s expected that 500 million internet users in India will consume online video. The momentum and the potential is vast,” said Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube.
The company had also announced YouTube premium for INR 129 a month which will allow users to access ad-free, background and offline play across all of YouTube.
With this, YouTube has been competing with other major foreign music streaming players such as Apple Music and Amazon Music apart from Spotify.
YouTube Music celebrated the success in Mumbai which saw participation from several Indian artists such as Javed Akhtar, Badshah, Guru Randhawa and Harshdeep Kaur.
YouTube’s Growing Focus On Indian Market
As the online media industry promises huge opportunity in India, several online streaming companies such as YouTube, Netflix, Spotify etc have been looking to strengthen their footprint in the Indian market.
Right before YouTube launched its music streaming app after Sweden-based Spotify expanded its services in India in February. The company is charging INR 119 per month for its ad-free premium version.
Within one week of the launch of its services, Spotify had already recorded 1 Mn users in the country.
While Spotify received a warm welcome in the country, YouTube Music has already placed ahead itself in the game in terms of downloads.
YouTube which records nearly 245 Mn users per month from India has been bullish about strengthening its presence in India. Last year, the company revealed its plans to grow its business in India via its vernacular content as it expects viewership to grow by 40% for the contents produced in Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali this year.
Both the foreign and domestic music streaming services are stepping up their game as a KPMG report from 2015 suggests that India’s recorded music business is set to nearly double to INR 18.9 Bn ($300 Mn) by the end of this year.
