This week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the YouTube Music app has been downloaded more than 15 million times in India since it was launched in March.While it is not clear how many of those downloads are by paying subscribers, it is evident that the video platform is keen to convert its large Indian base into paying subscribers.
The India launch of YouTube Music was celebrated last month at Bandra’s Taj Lands End with a lineup of local artistes and the company’s top leadership. Offering glimpses into the app’s performance in India so far, Adam Smith, vice president for product management, emphasised its uniqueness in a market already brimming with other well-established competitors.
Predictive playlists
Smith demonstrated the app’s ability to search for titles based on simple descriptions of a song, or a snippet of its lyrics. For instance, looking up the famously misheard “Starbucks lovers” offers Taylor Swift’s 2014 hit ‘ Blank Space’ as the top suggestion (she actually sings “long list of ex-lovers”). Of course, this level of accuracy is possible because of the vast amount of user data that has been collected over a decade (all of which is traced back to you if you have used the same YouTube login). And there is the powerful expertise of Google, the parent company.
An oft-repeated declaration of the evening was that the app surpassed three million downloads within a week in India. Another point was that it also offers all of YouTube’s music content — including covers, remixes and live performances — under one roof. Additionally, drawing from the user’s Google account settings, the app curates playlists based on what time it is, or what the user’s mood could be, whether they are relaxing at home, or hitting the gym.
Poised to pay?
While YouTube Music has a free, ad-supported version, the premium option will set users back by ₹99 a month. There is also a family pack for a total of six members, available at ₹149 a month. This is not to be confused with YouTube Premium, the ₹129-a-month option which provides ad-free access to YouTube Music as well as all of the video platform’s content, including YouTube Originals. Subscribers will also be able to play videos in the background on their mobile devices, an option currently unavailable on the free version of YouTube.
Popular YouTuber Anisha Dixit, known as Rickshawali to her two million plus subscribers, believes the entry of video streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon have primed users to be willing to pay for an exclusive music experience. “It’s just a matter of time [before] people will also be willing to pay once they like the app and know how to use it,” she says. As the app is an extension of the content available on the website, Dixit thinks users will consider it a natural shift. Smith confirms that YouTube is counting on precisely that, through banners and interstitials on the website, hoping to draw in frequent users to subscribe to the exclusive paid content.
The fact that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world (after Google) shows that users prefer to consume their entertainment, and even news, in video format. Underlining this trend was the presence of the CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki (pictured below), at the event. Acknowledging this rapid growth, she said, “By 2020, it’s expected that 500 million Internet users in India will consume online video. The momentum and potential is vast.” Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, also remarked that Indian artistes often make up a fifth of global top songs charts. This includes the likes of Alka Yagnik, Neha Kakkar, Kumar Sanu, Arijit Singh and Udit Narayan.
