SPOTIFY INDIA – GAME OR LATE TO

THE STREAMING PARTY?

INTRODUCTION

Everything comes at a price. Even the music that we are hooked to our supposedly free music
streaming apps. As users we pay in terms of our time and for every 30 minutes that we listen to
Spotify, the company makes $0.03 in ad revenues [1]. The average Indian user listens to 21.5 hours
of music per week generating $1.29 per week per user in India. Out of $1.29, Spotify pays 70% of
its revenue stream to the music producers which is approximately a dollar per subscriber.

Spotify Technology, the Swedish audio streaming major currently holds the largest market share
in the global music streaming space (36%) [2] and reported 248 Mn total Monthly Active Users
(MAU) out of which, 113 Mn are Premium Users and 141 Mn are Ad-supported (Free) users in its
Q3 press release. [3] The company enables on-demand streaming of audio content and aims to
combat music piracy by monetizing licensed content with an ad-supported, free-to-the-user model
and a premium, paid model.

Fueled by the Over The Top (OTT) services boom in India, Spotify finally entered the Indian
market in February 2019 with the launch of its successful marketing campaign “There’s a Playlist
for that” amassing one million subscribers within a month of its launch. The Indian music
streaming industry has a total subscriber base of 137 Mn that is expected to grow to 273 Mn by
end of 2020 underlining the potential growth opportunities for Spotify. [4]

THE INDIAN MUSIC STREAMING MARKET

Before the entry of Spotify, the Indian music streaming industry had over half a dozen prominent
players including JioSaavn, Gaana, Wynk Music, Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, YouTube
Music and Hungama music. Currently, JioSaavn and Gaana are the leaders with over 100 million
subscribers each. The revenue in the market amounted to approx. $220 Mn in 2019 and is expected
to show a CAGR of 8.7% resulting in a market volume of $334 Mn by 2024(Exhibit 3). The
streaming industry has also seen major activity in recent times with the merger of Jio music with
Saavn and entry of YouTube Music in March 2019.

1 Blog: Spotify’s Revenue Model is Brain Food

www.startup-monk.com/spotifys-revenue-model/
2 “Report: Spotify has 36% market share of music-streaming subs”

musically.com/2019/12/09/report-spotify-has-36-market-share-of-music-streaming-subs/,Dec.9,2019
3 “Spotify Press Release Q3-2019”

s22.q4cdn.com/540910603/files/doc_financials/2019/q3/Shareholder-Letter-Q3-2019-[Final].pdf
4 “Economic impact of the recorded music industry in India”, Deloitte
www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/technology-media-
telecommunications/IMI%20report_singlePage.pdf, September 2019
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Most of the players in the industry have adopted the freemium model which derives its revenue
from streaming music to ad-supported free users and premium users. To provide a differentiated
music experience, streaming players are also venturing into the creation of original content through
creative podcasts of curated titles.

While the players continue to expand their services, they have certain pointers to focus on. Firstly,
India currently has an abysmal rate of penetration in music streaming segment of 6.8% as is
projected to grow to 7.6% in 2024 (Exhibit 4) – a trend inversely proportional to the increase in
the number of smartphone users in India (India is currently the 2nd largest market for smartphones
in the world). Secondly, the revenue from music streaming in India amounts to a mere 0.88% of
the global revenues. So, whether there is any real potential in the Indian market is still unknown.

ARE INDIANS WILLING TO PAY UP?

Data retrieved from research by Quartz.com and YouGov reveal that only 23% of Indian users are
willing to pay up for the premium versions of music streaming apps (Exhibit 8). Music downloaded
from illegal websites/torrents has created a “music is available for free” mindset, thus preventing
consumers from spending even a dime on music. Piracy has been a major hurdle in Indian
entertainment market with varying degree of effects on industries such as film and music
publishing.

Pricing of premium plans has had a direct bearing on the number of paid customers especially in
a price-sensitive market like India. Spotify has priced its services at INR 1189/year which is
significantly more than its competitors like JioSaavn and Gaana, both of which are offering
premium plans at INR 399/year (Exhibit 10). As per a press release by the company of Q3 2019
the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of the Indian music streaming industry currently stands at
US$2.38(Exhibit 5) as compared to Global Spotify ARPU of US$5.21. Thus, Spotify has a major
task at hand in convincing Indian users to switch to their premium plan, given the little
differentiation in the application services as compared to the offerings of other players.

SPOTIFY INDIA – WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

Spotify’s personalized playlists coupled with its Discover Weekly feature [5], which gives users a
brand-new playlist comprising of a mix of old jams and new tracks based on their taste in music,
is what sets Spotify apart from all its rivals.

The battle for supremacy in India is going to be difficult for the world’s biggest music streaming
service with half a dozen large rivals and a price sensitive market, being major deterrents. Google
and Amazon are selling their devices pre-loaded with their music streaming services (Google Play
Music and Amazon Music respectively) putting Spotify at a significant competitive disadvantage.

5“Spotify’s Discover Weekly explained – Breaking from your music bubble or maybe not”
medium.com/the-sound-of-ai/spotifys-discover-weekly-explained-breaking-from-your-music-bubble-or-maybe-not-
b506da144123, Feb 11,2019
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However, a fast-growing user base might ensure that it gets volume comfort in terms of an increase
in the number of ad-supported users.

In line with the above statement, Mr. Akshat Harbola, Head of Market Operations, Spotify India
has mentioned that a majority of the revenues in the streaming music industry are still coming
from ad-supported models and it is an industry challenge for all the players to make it more of a
habit as opposed to the consumption of pirated content.[6]

Reaching to the price sensitive Indian listener is posing challenges for Spotify to penetrate the
Indian market.

Can it position itself as the go to music app for the battle of the leisure time of its Indian audience?

6“Majority of revenues in music streaming in India still from ads: Spotify”

www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/majority-of-revenues-in-music-streaming-in-india-still-from-ads-spotify-
1567511589479.html, Sept 03,2019
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DELIVERABLES:

1. Given the nascent stage in which India’s premium music streaming industry, with a few
percentages of users ready to switch to premium plans, suggest some differentiators in the
application and draw a comprehensive marketing plan in order to increase the paid
subscribers for Spotify India.

2. Spotify has wafer-thin ARPU as compared to the global average, while the Indian music
streaming industry is experiencing mergers and JV’s with telecom subscribers by providing
bundled services. In addition, Gaana & JioSaavn have severely undercut the market by
introducing premium plans at Rs.399. Construct a comprehensive strategic plan to ensure
the sustainability and profitability of Spotify’s operations in India.

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ANNEXURES

EXHIBIT 1: SPOTIFY’S PERCENTAGE OF SUBSCRIBERS BY REGION

Image credits: Quarter 3 report - Spotify

EXHIBIT 2: A BRIEF OF BUSINESS MODEL – SPOTIFY

Data Sourced from Annual Report FY19

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 EXHIBIT 3: REVENUE ESTIMATE – MUSIC STREAMING INDUSTRY

Image Credits: Statista

EXHIBIT 4: MUSIC STREAMING USER PENETRATION IN INDIA(ESTIMATE)

Image Credits: Statista

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 EXHIBIT 5: ESTIMATED ARPU FROM MUSIC STREAMING – INDIA

Image Credits: Statista

EXHIBIT 6: AGE WISE GROUPING OF MUSIC STREAMING USERS

Image Credits: Statista

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 EXHIBIT 7: GLOBAL COMPARISON – USER PENETRATION IN MUSIC
STREAMING SEGMENT

Source – Statista.com

EXHIBIT 8: COMPOSITION OF INDIAN MUSIC STREAMING USERS

Image Credits: Quartz.com

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 EXHIBIT 9: USER PREFERENCES ACROSS MAJOR FEATURES

Image Credits: Quartz.com

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 EXHIBIT 10: COMPARISON – LEADING MUSIC STREAMING PLAYERS

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