MUMBAI (CelebrityAccess) – Spotify has reportedly racked up more than one million unique users in India across its free and premium tiers since launching last Tuesday (Feb. 26).
A week ago it seemed as though the Swedish streaming giant was poised for a shaky launch in the region after Warner Music Group filed an injunction seeking to prevent Spotify from accessing songs published by Warner/Chappell Music Publishing. Tensions between the company and the major label were high and a media storm ensued. Many in the industry were left wondering how the whole thing would play out, however, after a judge in Mumbai deferred the case for a period of four weeks, Spotify went forward with their launch the following day.
With a population of 1.3 billion and more than 400 million smartphone users, India could be a potentially huge market for Spotify, but it’s one it’ll have to fight for. Well-funded players such as the Tencent-backed Gaana, Reliance Industries’ JioSaavn, Apple’s Apple Music, Amazon’s Prime Music, Alphabet Inc’s Google Play Music and Xiaomi-backed Hungama, have already captured a significant portion of the market.
Spotify is currently offering a free 30-day trial, as well as monthly subscriptions, which are priced at 119 Indian Rupees per month (approximately $1.68 USD). The reported one million unique users is a combined total of free listeners and paying subscribers, however, Spotify has not as of yet revealed what the split is or how that number breaks down.
