Spotify launches in India, the world’s second most populated country where it is estimated there are over 400 million active internet users. Spotify’s has customised its offering to Indian music fans offering everything from Bollywood to Bhangra plus access to Spotify’s international music catalogue.
At the services launch, Daniel Ek, Spotify founder and CEO, said, “As Spotify grows, our goal is to bring millions of artists and billions of fans together from every country and background. 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 priced its offering to match the spending power of the Indian market with both Pay As You Go (PAYG) and monthly price plans. One day of PAYG Spotify Premium access in India costs 13 INR ($0.18), with seven days costing 39 INR ($0.55). A monthly subscription will cost 129 INR ($1.81), while three months of PAYG access costs 389 INR ($5.47) and six months costing 719 INR ($10.10). This is significantly cheaper than US and European subscriptions which are $9.99 in the US. €9,99 ($11.30) in France, and £9.99 ($13.25) in the UK.
Spotify’s Indian launch follows the company’s recent expansion across the Middle East and South East Asia and brings the total number of Spotify markets to 79 with 207 million users, 96million of these being subscribers.
Spotify India features
Multi-language music recommendations
With a diverse range of local languages Spotify’s music recommendation engine can now be tuned to Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu. Indian users can select their preferred language(s) to receive tailored Daily Mix, Home, Radio, and Search results and recommendations.
Spotify Free with full control
For the first time on Spotify Free, smartphone users can play every song on demand.
Playlists made for India
The newly introduced playlists are expertly curated and regularly updated by a team of Indian music experts, include Indiestan, Rap 91, Namaste Love, Punjabi101, and Bollywood Butter, as well as Top Hits in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Punjabi. These sit alongside Spotify’s international playlists, including mint, RapCaviar, ¡Viva Latino!, and the This is… artist compilations. Creator and fan-built playlists are also available.
Spotify goes to the movies
Spotify is introducing Starring… – a series of playlists featuring the best music from the most popular Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, and Punjabi actors. Spotify’s recommendations will also include songs from India’s favourite movies and actors.
City playlists
What’s hot in each city, with new algorithmic playlists tracking what’s trending in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai.
“Spotify’s arrival in India is a big step forward in our overall global growth strategy,” says 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 researchers, engineers, and cultural tastemakers to ensure this global product 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 Brazilian funk.”
For the sounds of India, take a listen to Rap 91.
