Spotify has reportedly launched for some users in India today, with plans to officially launch on Wednesday to everyone, Variety, citing sources with knowledge of Spotify’s plans, reports.
For the first 30 days, Spotify’s premium service will be free and then cost 119 rupees (about $1.67) per month. There are also single-day, weekly, monthly, three-month, six-month and annual plans. Similar to other streaming services available in India, Spotify will also offer a free, ad-supported product.
Spotify first announced its intent to launch in India last March. In November, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek cited licensing situations as a roadblock to its launch.
Last month, Spotify inked a global content deal with T-Series, a leading Indian film and music company with a catalog of more than 160,000 songs. As TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez has noted, the Indian market won’t be an easy one for Spotify to win. That’s because Spotify is up against local player Gaana, which already has more than 80 million users, Saavn, Wynk as well as the North American likes of Google, Apple and Amazon.
This is launch is happening in light of Spotify’s legal battle with Warner Music Group. Earlier this week, WMG asked an Indian court to block Spotify from being able to play music from its catalog.
TechCrunch has reached out to Spotify and will update this story if we hear back.
Written by Megan Rose Dickey
This news first appeared on https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/26/spotify-launches-in-india/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 under the title “Spotify reportedly launches in India”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
