After a long overdue wait, in February last year, Spotify launched its operations in India. Despite the much hype among music enthusiasts, the global music streaming giant still has a long way to go to becoming a market leader here. Indian users have various streaming services to choose from; Apple Music, Jio Saavn, Airtel’s Wynk are leading in the segment. Google also launched its YouTube Music streaming service in India last year, with many studies indicating most Indians prefer YouTube for listening to music.
Of the many hurdles Spotify has faced in the country since it’s launch, the dispute with Warner Chappel Music hurt them badly with the Sweden headquartered company barred from streaming all of Warner’s catalog to its India users including music from Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Linkin Park, to name a few. That is set to change now as Spotify has inked a multi-territory deal with the music publishing group.
On Tuesday, Spotify made the announcement of the deal with Warner Chappell Music, ending the year-long dispute. This also marks the end of litigation filed in Bombay High Court by Warner Music.
In a statement, a Spotify spokesperson said:
We’re pleased with this agreement, and together with Warner Chappell Music, we look forward to helping songwriters and artists connect with more fans, and for more fans to enjoy and be inspired by their music.
A spokesperson from Warner Chappell music said that the new deal appropriately values its artists’ value:
We’re happy with this outcome. This new deal appropriately values our songwriters’ music and expands our licensed partnership with Spotify to include India.
Due to the heavily competitive market in India and the cheapest data costs, Spotify’s subscription fees in the country at Rs. 119 per month (about $1.7) are far lower than it is globally. This did not go down too well with Warner Music as their revenues from royalties were set to be affected. Warner Chappell Music in response sued Spotify for using Warner’s catalog without licensing. Warner Music Group head Steve Cooper had stated: “In our view, the value of music should always be treated as independent from the choices that streaming platforms make about the pricing of their services and their customer acquisition strategies.”
Spotify’s troubles in India are far from over as it is facing a similar lawsuit from music label Saaregama.
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