Streaming service Spotify and Saregama (India’s oldest music label owned by RP Sanjiv Goenka Group of companies) have announced a licensing partnership for India, meaning that the label’s entire catalogue is now available for users in the country. With music catalogues from across eras and languages, Saregama’s catalogue spans across film, Carnatic, Hindustani classical and devotional music in over 25 languages.
So what does this mean for Spotify subscribers? They will now be able to listen to more of their favourite artistes, such as Lata Mangeshkar, R D Burman, Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Kalyanji-Anandji and Hemant Kumar; and evergreen tracks such as ‘Chhod Do Aanchal Zamana Kya Kahega’, ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’, ‘Rimjhim Gire Saawan’, ‘Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein’, ‘Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum’, among others.
Listeners can also tune into Spotify’s own playlists including This Is Kishore Kumar, This Is Asha Bhosle, Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Starring Rishi Kapoor, Disco Deewane, Punjabi Legacy, and Old Is Gold, among many others, to listen to a collection of evergreen music.
“Since its launch in India last year, Spotify has seen a tremendous response from listeners across the country. Now, with the full Saregama catalogue available on Spotify India, our users will not only find their favourite retro music across local languages, but also be able to discover more old-school songs through Spotify’s locally curated playlists — both editorial and algorithmic. Spotify is continually committed to delivering the best and most rewarding repertoire to our users”, said Paul Smith, Director of Global Licensing at Spotify, in a company-issued statement.
Vikram Mehra, Managing Director of Saregama India, adds, “We are happy to partner with Spotify and make our entire catalogue available for listeners across the globe, now including India. Saregama holds the largest library of films and non-film songs in over 25 languages ranging from old classics to new age music. We are sure, listeners would be really happy with this addition.”
In their Q1 2020 report, Spotify shared that total monthly active users grew 31% year over year to 286 million, of which 130 million monthly active users are Premium subscribers. Weigh Spotify against other major music streaming services in India, and one will find that Spotify Premium is the priciest subscription, costing ₹119 per month while Apple Music, YouTube Music, JioSaavn, and Gaana ask for ₹99 a month. The annual premium subscriptions for JioSaavn and Gaana were lowered to ₹299 from ₹999.
