Tanushree Basuroy
Research expert covering India
Music in India draws upon a rich heritage that can be traced back to the Vedic times. Meant to both inform and entertain, Indian music has evolved over the years spanning a variety of genres that includes classical, folk, pop, film, indie and raga rock. The Indian music industry is renowned for having produced some of the world’s most loved music, singers, and composers. While Indian melodies are culturally diverse, the industry itself has come to be dominated by Indian cinema, especially Bollywood, in terms of revenue and popularity.
As one of the largest internet markets in the world with cheap data plans, India was quick to adopt and adapt to music streaming with both global and indigenous platforms vying to have the listener’s ear. Streaming activity spiked further during the COVID-19 pandemic and the industry was sustained by a boom in independent artists on these platforms. Among them, YouTube was the most popular music streaming platform and T-Series, Indian music record label had the highest number of views. The emerging popularity of short-form videos presented tremendous marketing potential for musicians.
Digitalization of music
Up until the mid-2000s, music distribution in India was primarily in the form of cassette tapes and CDs, with radio and television being the main channels of marketing. Additionally, the exponential penetration of mobile phones gave birth to one of the biggest revenue streams of the music industry - caller ring back tones. Today, the industry derives the highest share of its revenue digitally.As one of the largest internet markets in the world with cheap data plans, India was quick to adopt and adapt to music streaming with both global and indigenous platforms vying to have the listener’s ear. Streaming activity spiked further during the COVID-19 pandemic and the industry was sustained by a boom in independent artists on these platforms. Among them, YouTube was the most popular music streaming platform and T-Series, Indian music record label had the highest number of views. The emerging popularity of short-form videos presented tremendous marketing potential for musicians.
Battling music piracy
Music piracy has been a major concern worldwide and in India. This particularly affects struggling artists and producers. Over the years, music piracy evolved from the unlicensed sale of music CDs and DVDs to internet-based piracy. A recent survey on music consumption trends indicated that a majority of Indian users listen to music via licensed audio streaming services. However, a fair share also source their music through illegal and unlicensed means. While the use of music streaming services like Gaana, Wynk, Spotify, Apple music, JioSaavn, and YouTube have already made a slight difference in piracy levels, experts believed lowering the prices of music products and streaming services could altogether change the fate of the music industry in its fight against digital piracy.
