This Philips Radiogram has been in my family since decades, takes me to an era

when radio was the predominant entertainment source. Radios were made
commercially available to the families during world war II.
When I was young, and I suspect it’s the same experience as most of you
readers, free music came in the form of FM radio.
And then there’s the Sony Walkman devices. I had my first Walkman when I
was 15 years old. 
Not too many of us remember vinyl or 8tracks. We are a streaming generation
with our iTunes and Spotify apps a click away on our smart devices.
Source:
1) The Evolution of the Music Industry - Where We Go From Here | HuffPost
2) How Does Music Streaming Work? [+ 5 Current Music Streaming Trends] (soundcharts.com)
Product adoption lifecycle of music streaming services in India

Comparison across streaming services

From Vinyl to Streaming.

All thanks to audio streaming the music industry has changed quite a bit over
the last couple of decades. With the rise of affordable mobile internet, audio
streaming has rapidly gained popularity to become the easiest way to listen to
music anywhere and everywhere.

According to a Cisco report, India is becoming a big battleground for video and
audio streaming services firms. This is due to the number of smartphone users
in India is expected to double to 829 million by 2022 from 404.1 million in
2017. The heightened interest in India’s music-streaming segment comes at a
time when the over-the-top (OTT) industry is having its moment in the sun
thanks to increasing smartphone and internet adoption, coupled with sliding
data prices and the pandemic which is proving to be pivotal in increased
dependency on the streaming services.

Various music streaming services available in the market

Comparison
(Source: Best Music Streaming Service in India (2020) | Beebom)

Where does it lie in the product adoption curve?

1) There have been modest disruptions to streaming as a result of COVID-
19. At the start of the pandemic, audio streaming saw a decrease in
listening hours as consumers drove less and focused on other platforms
(e.g., video streaming) and forms of entertainment (e.g., TV and video
gaming). However, according to Billboard, these declines returned to
growth by the end of April.
2) People are multi-tasking, switching between household chores and
professional engagements, to the sound of music
3) India’s audio streaming market is dominated by Gaana, with a 30% share,
followed by JioSaavn (24%), Wynk Music (15%), Spotify (15%), Google
Play Music (10%), and others (7%)
4) India currently has the 15th largest music market in the world and is set to
be in the top 10 by 2022
5) India has witnessed an increase in streaming revenue (31%) with rising
traffic towards legitimate sources of music (source (livemint.com))
6) Around 150 million users in India use music streaming services
(according to a report by Deloitte).
7) Out of these 150 million subscribers, less than 1% pay for a subscription
and about 14% have it bundled along with other services such as a mobile
contract, etc. The remaining user's stream music with free subscriptions.
8) These services are currently most popular
a. among younger generation (70%),
b. technology geeks and music lovers.
c. It is also gaining increased popularity with users of devices such as
iPhone which have Apple Music pre-installed as one of the stock
applications provided with it.
Considering this it can be concluded that the music streaming service industry is
currently in a transition between the Early Adopter and Early Majority stage.
Local Players like Gaana, Youtube music, Wynk Music etc due to their
minimal subscription charges has already crossed their Chasm in the Indian
market.
However, Spotify, Apple Music are not far behind to cross chasm with the
growing market
Calling India an important strategic market for Spotify, Amarjit Batra, MD,
India, Spotify, identified its personalisation, with its three billion playlists, as
one of its biggest differentiators, saying how one of the oft-received comments
from its users is about how “Spotify understands them”.
According to Mr Batra- “India is known for its social, cultural and geographic
diversity. That said- we are committed to enhancing the user’s experience in
music and podcasts through continued focus on personalization, seamless
discoverability, and in-depth localization”. 
Analyses of the adoption of these services by users in India

Source: the-Product-Adoption-Curve

There are basically 5 stages in the adoption lifecycle of a product or service

which are:
Innovators — The first set of users that get access to the product or service.
This set includes developers who build apps and integrations for the
product/service or reviewers and tech bloggers who are in the business of
publishing public reviews of products/services.
In context of the Music Streaming Industry: Music Artists, Record Labels,
Production Houses would all fall under this category as it is imperative to get as
much International/Localized content on the platform. These apps will only
succeed if the users find the music they are looking for.
Early Adopters — These are the potential evangelists for a product/service.
They are the people who are one of the first consumers of the product or service
and are usually brand advocates/loyalists, fanatics of the company. They are
often exceptionally good at influencing others based on their credibility and
help determine if the majority of the population will accept it. They are
generally young, educated, high-risk takers and often have more financial
lucidity.
In context of the Music Streaming Industry: People who have used the
same/similar service before (probably in another region), Technology Geeks
who love to explore, people who are passionate about music might fall under
this segment as they would probably be the most eager and excited to get their
hands on the product.
Early Majority — This segment of consumers is the general population that
adopts the product or service after they receive the confidence of the early
adopters. Only after observing and receiving feedback from the Innovators and
Early Adopters will they make a well-informed decision to adopt the product or
the service. They tend to be less technologically educated, medium risk takers
that are willing to take a chance on new products/services but only after
witnessing others do so first.
In context of the Music Streaming Industry: People from the general music
listening population that own a smartphone, are probably frustrated with
traditional means of listening to music (downloading and transferring from
various sources), who are open to trying something new. They may or may not
have received feedback from the earlier segments of consumers.
Late Majority — This segment of consumers’ are one of the last to adopt a
product or service after a significant amount of time has passed as well as a
good percentage of people have got their hands on it. They demonstrate very
low risk-taking ability and do so only on a need basis.
In context of the Music Streaming Industry: These are people who are
sceptical about the service and/or its features, do not immediately see the value
in paying for such apps, taken a long time to switch over to a smartphone or
understand the concept behind the service. Sceptical about the risks of online
subscriptions.
Laggards — Laggards are the absolute last group to adopt a product or service.
They consist of people who are largely seniors or with low socioeconomic
status. They use family, friends, and neighbours as information sources, dislike
change and accept new things only when forced to do so.
In context of the Music Streaming Industry: People generally in the 50–60+
age group who prefer traditional means of listening to music via radio, TV,
CD’s, Cassettes and are generally averse to new technology. They are very
unlikely to use the service unless circumstantially forced to do so.
Factors and challenges which affected the rate of music streaming service
adoption
1) Piracy: Combating music piracy in India is a losing battle
the music industry is estimated to lose about ₹1,000 crore a year due to
piracy, which, according to a 2019 International Federation of the
Phonographic Industry (IFPI)-Indian Music Industry (IMI) ‘Digital Music
Study’ makes up for 67% of the market — the global piracy average
being 27%. (Source: Why Combating Music Piracy In India Is A Losing Battle – IMI
(indianmi.org))

2) Affordability and Willingness to pay:

 (a) Subscription models in India are a fairly new phenomenon, digital
payments have fairly recently been on the rise and many consumers are
still sceptical and lack the confidence to make digital payments due to
security concerns.

(b) Access to sources of privacy negates the need for the consumer to
switch over / pay for such services.

Low-income levels and limited disposable income play a major role in

impacting the affordability of such services in India

3) Content based Challenges:

The audio streaming industry has faced three types of challenges because
of Covid-19. 
a) The first challenge was that people were packed into homes in
lockdown, due to which the craze of listening to music while
walking or travelling was almost stopped. However, gradually,
people have started listening to songs while working remotely.
b) New film songs stopped coming in due to the lockdown, due to
which non-film songs started getting more attention, religious
songs,
c) India being a diverse country with over 22 languages spoken in
various parts would require the top players to make the experience
more user specific and diversify the content.
(Source: #NayaBharat | ‘Content Podcast will bring big changes in India’s audio
streaming industry’: Amarjit Singh Batra (jagran.com))

Growth and product adoption comparison with other music streaming services
(Use data points such as catalogue size, Monthly Active Users, time since
launch, USPs, price differentiation etc.)

Growth and Product Adoption of various Music Streaming services in

India
 Revenue in the Digital Music segment is projected to reach ₹44,174m in 2021.
 Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of
13.78%, resulting in a projected market volume of ₹74,039m by 2025.
  The market's largest segment is Music Streaming with a projected market
volume of ₹42,725m in 2021.
 User penetration will be 9.0% in 2021 and is expected to hit 10.3% by 2025.
 The average revenue per user (ARPU) is expected to amount to ₹352.30

Comparison across the various streaming Services

Spotify JioSaavn Apple YouTube Gaana Wynk Amazon

Musi
c
Logo

Launched
Since
Song
Collection
Monthly Active
Users
USP’s
Price
Difference

Source: Digital Music - India | Statista Market Forecast

Growth hacks used (example and details of streaming services that have used
hacks to gain the adopters)
Summary

https://soundcharts.com/blog/how-music-streaming-works-trends#a-complete-
classification-of-music-streaming-services
Nathan D'Mello | Adoption of Music Streaming Services in India (nathandmello.com)

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/online-music-streaming-market-A11156
https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/product-adoption-to-transform-marketing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_music_streaming_services#cite_n
ote-8

However, this group can have lots of variety in terms of specific customer
types. For example, maybe someone just really needed your exact product.

What’s most important about this group is its size. You might have noticed
that it’s small. That’s completely normal.
This is why you might only get a few sales immediately after you launch.
You’ll typically get about 2.5% of your total sales from innovators.

Primary Motive:
This is why you might only get a few sales immediately after you launch.
Key Characteristics:
-Strong aptitude for technical knowledge
-Smitten by new ideas
-Like to alpha test new products
-Can ignore any missing elements/ features

Challenges:
-Want unrestricted access to top technical people
-Like no-profit pricing of the product

Key Role: Gatekeeper to the early Adopters