Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), the world’s leading music streaming service, is available in India today with all-new features tuned to Indian music fans’ personal tastes. With today’s launch in the world’s second most populous country (over 1.3bn people), Spotify is making its way to the fastest growing market globally for mobile apps. Method 1: You can set up a separate account on the U.S. ITunes Store and download it from there. Instructions here. Download the Tunnel bear app.
On more than one occasion this year, I have heard Ravishankar Prasad, India’s Union Minister for electronics and IT encouraging developers to make apps in India, for India. The Indian government has already blocked thousands of Chinese apps and some have been replaced by Indian equivalents. For instance, TikTok and PUBG are replaced by Mitron and FAU-G respectively. But apps require a marketplace or app store from where they can be downloaded. And there are two prominent (and I dare say, monopolistic) ones at the moment — Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Both take a hefty cut (30% in the case of Google) on each download under a revenue-sharing model.
The other issue is the way regulation is done on these app stores. The system to check clones and copycat apps is far from perfect. A successful app on either of these app stores will soon have a bunch of meet-too apps. And the clones will get millions of downloads, greatly impacting the growth and success of the original app.
What needs to be done?
- Made in India apps need an Indian app store. And the government should make it mandatory for all mobile phone manufacturers to pre-load this app store on phones sold in the Indian market.
2. The Indian app store can charge a reasonable fee for each app that is downloaded (10 – 15%) and this can be collected by the Ministry of Finance.
Spotify Indian App Store Apps
3. All new apps being uploaded on this Indian app store should go through a rigorous process of validation. First, they need to be scanned for malware. If there are similar apps already existing, then the app’s author needs to be notified. The functionality of the app needs to be checked to prevent redundancy on the app store.
4. Once the apps are approved and appear on the Indian app store, the app developer will then be free to put the same apps on Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store after a period of say, 2 – 6months. That would give the Indian app store some exclusivity.
5. Google and Apple’s app store policies for India need to be scrutinized by the Indian Government. Both need to work closely with the concerned departments whenever there is a revision in policies.
Conclusion
Multiple institutions may need to be involved to make this possible: TRAI, CCI (Competition Commission of India), MeitY, and the Ministry of Finance. But I am confident that a tightly regulated Indian app store will create a level playing field and keep monopolistic players in check.
The Indian app ecosystem that our minister envisions will not come to fruition unless we have fairness and exclusivity, That’s why the Indian government needs to step in now.
AND TWO DAYS LATER….
Did you know: Spotify, epic, tinder have joined forces with App fair alliance to oppose Apple App store?
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Spotify, the best music streaming app is now available to download for its Indian music lovers for both iOS and Android OS. You can subscribe to Spotify Premium bearly from INR 13 per day.
Spotify, one of the world’s most popular music streaming services, is now launched in India. Spotify app has been spotted on new Samsung Galaxy S10 devices which will become launch in India early March. The music gaint app launch comes after months of awaiting about a possible India entry.
Earlier Spotify music app is only available for UK and US users, now it is available to download in Google Play Store and Apple App Store for android and ios devices. For old users of Spotify in India, no more 14 days abroad use warning will display for users. Indian users now no more needed VPN services to connect with Spotify every 2 weeks.
As of Wednesday morning, Spotify India website Spotify premium v8 4.3 479 apk. is also in production. As per the website, free trial is available for a month, after that users can avail Spotify Premium Services starting Rs 119 per month. There is also a Rs 13 per day option with no commitment to a long term subscription.
Spotify showcased subscription chargers on its website for India, merely starting at INR 13 per day.
Spotify Indian App Store Online
But there is the free option too with personalised playlists and recommendations, access to the full catalogue across all devices, ability to create and share playlists as well as the option for background play. On Premium, users will have access to offline as well as ad-free music, high quality streaming at 320kbps. After the free 30-day Spotify Premium trials, subscribers can choose to credit/debit cards or e-wallets.
Battling Apple proves profitable for Spotify
In the fourth quarter, Spotify surprised investors with a net profit, as the world’s largest music streaming service with 96 million paying users, around twice the number of closest competitor Apple Music.
Commenting on the launch, Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said in a release: “India has an incredibly rich music culture and to best serve this market, we’re launching a custom-built experience. Spotify not only bring Indian music artists to the outer world but also brings the world’s trending music to fans all over India. Spotify’s music family with its expansion in India just got a whole lot bigger.”
The Spotify India service has a good shuffle play of Bollywood and regional music content with superior playlists in other languages like Malayalam. Spotify had announced the “addition of an enlarged catalog from T-Series,” with more than 1,60,000 songs in Hindi and regional languages in January.
Spotify India, Managing Director, Amarjit Singh Batra has said in the press release that the digital revolution has led to an exponential growth in the number of digitally connected Indians, “making music live streaming the favoured way to enjoy music here.” We are looking forward to many different exclusive launches soon, as Spotify will require to make a spot for itself in a very competitive music streaming Indian market. In India, along with local players like JioSaavn and Gaana, Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music have been able to make a spot in recent times and hustle people to pay for subscriptions.
Speaking on the entry of a new player, Siddhartha Roy, COO, Hungama Digital Media said, “The Indian music streaming market has witnessed a sizeable growth in terms of users and better connectivity and economical data plans. The evolution of the market has created more opportunities for platforms, Indian and international, to grow and expand. It will be exciting to see the dynamism that a new international player will bring to the industry.”
Free Spotify App
Spotify’s offers something unique shuffle play feature in comparison to these existing services. Spotify Users will get to know what their friends listening. Public play lists accessible by friends. Around the world, Spotify Music App has 207 million active users in 79 markets out of which 96 million are paid users. The company has claimed around 30,000 new tracks are added to spotify collection each day, summing up to 3 billion playlist options.