Music streaming services are soaring these days, with new internet users every day becoming subscribers to these services. The music industry blames piracy for sinking profits when it was actually just people evolving from a physical to a digital world (streaming). Saavn was founded back in 2006 as a completely different service, but a few years later they turned to become a music streaming service and grew to be valued at over $1 billion. It was in March of this year when Reliance Industries took a major stake in the company with an agreement made to combine Saavn with its own music service, JioMusic. After all these months the transformation has been made with the Saavn app in the Apple Store being renamed to Jio Saavn Music & Radio.
As of now, this change has only been made for apple store, but it should come within Android. Android is having more than 80% market share in India, and also it’s been known that developers can get their apps published in the Play Store a lot faster and easier than the iOS App Store. However, this could be similar to other upcoming exclusives we see from Apple and Android users will just have to wait. For now, though, the Saavn Music & Radio application is still listed in the Play Store.
Saavn being estimated at $1 billion due to the investment from Reliance Industries shows you how popular the music streaming industry is today.
Recently reported was a strategic plan for Spotify to launch in India with an extended free trial. “India specifically is a very fragmented marketplace with lots of different local labels, lots of different local publishers,” CEO Daniel Ek has conceded.
While Spotify is busy networking with some of the biggest record labels in the country, their extended free trial idea is spot on as Jio Saavn Music & Radio is currently offering a 90-day pro trial offer to Apple customers in the area. Look for the same deal when it comes to Android.
With rights formalities secured for content owned by IML and production house T-Series, Spotify is all set to join the race in a very crowded marketplace. The Indian music OTT segment already has established local sites like Gaana, Saavn, Hungama, and global players like Google Music and iTunes. While all of them are witnessing a rapid increase in user and consumption statistics, almost nobody anywhere close to profitability, say industry reports.
