India’s growing digital streaming market has a new entrant this week and it’s finally time for Spotify to launch in the country. The music streaming app, available on Android, iOS, desktop and tablet has been one of the most anticipated launches, and after multiple delays, Spotify can finally announce its entry into the Indian market.
It will go up against established local players like Gaana, JioSaavn and other giants like Amazon Prime Music and Apple Music as well. To kickstart its journey in an aggressive fashion, Spotify is starting its monthly subscription plans from Rs 119, which gives users ad-free access to its large catalogue, and letting them download unlimited tracks.
Having said that, it’s largely expected that most users will start off by signing up for the 30-day trial, and decide whether they wish to pay for another digital service or not.
Spotify does have a free tier service that includes frequent ads but the overall app experience is unlikely to be different from what many users in the country have already been getting via various VPN services.
With the official app available in the country, users can simply download the app, sign in with Facebook (if you really wish to) or register with his/her Gmail ID to get going. To aid its localisation inquest, Spotify is letting you access the app and pay for its service via payment modes like Paytm and debit/credit cards and UPI in some cases.
The family sharing pack will be available in the coming months, and even the Spotify Skill or Action for Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers respectively, will come at a later date.
The company has confirmed that its service will work glitch-free across all available 2G/3G and 4G networks with audio quality ranging from 24kbps to 320 kbps. By default, users are getting 96kbps standard quality for the available music on the platform.
What Spotify Offers in India
- First Spotify market to get free service from first of launch
- Curated playlist based on user’s search/taste algorithm and local curators
- City-centric playlist with popular multi-lingual tracks on offer
- Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood and Punjabi content also available
One might say that compared to Amazon Prime Music’s Rs 999 annual plan (includes video and shopping also), Spotify for Rs 119 per month (or Rs 1,198 for one year) is taking Apple’s cue with the pricing but looking at its overall strength with content and user experience of the platform itself, the pricing looks fairly competitive.
Also, it is worth noting that Spotify, harbouring its hopes for the Indian market, would ideally want to take it slowly, especially in terms of adding paid users and making sure that all the systems are in order before raising its stakes.
Spotify officially claims to have 207 million active users, across 79 markets where it is available. Out of which 96 million have paid to use its service. It claims to add over 30,000 new tracks every day, and a staggering 300 crore playlists are already available for the users to make use of.
We’ll be taking a closer look at the app, its services and feature set over the next few weeks, compare it with other streaming services and see where and how Spotify ranks and could improve further.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)