Spotify launches in India with new features and curated playlists

The music streaming service will offer multi-language recommendations and playlists curated specifically for Indian listeners

Music streaming app Spotify has increased the number of paid up subscribers. Reuters

Spotify, the music streaming service, is now available in India, with all-new features tuned to Indian music fans’ personal tastes.

With today’s launch in the world’s second most populous country (over 1.3 billion people), Spotify is making its way to the fastest growing market globally for mobile apps.

A big market

The number of active internet users in India is estimated at over 400 million, as mobile internet and smartphones become faster and more affordable.

Spotify’s India launch follows the company’s recent expansion across Middle East and North Africa, and South East Asia, bringing the total number of Spotify markets to 79 with 207m users, including 96m subscribers, globally.

In India, the Spotify app is available to download for free or with an upgrade to Spotify Premium for INR119 (Dh6) per month.

'A rich music culture'

“As Spotify grows, our goal is to bring millions of artists and billions of fans together from every country and background,” said Daniel Ek, Spotify founder and CEO.

Indian hip-hop artist Naezy returns to rap with a new 'Gully Boy' global collaboration. Instagram / Naved Shaikh

“India has an incredibly rich music culture and to best serve this market, we’re launching a custom-built experience. Not only will Spotify bring Indian artists to the world, we’ll also bring the world’s music to fans across India. Spotify’s music family just got a whole lot bigger.”

All of Spotify’s favourite features

Spotify India will boast more than 40m songs. It has redesigned the music experience for India with a fresh set of exclusive features. This includes multi-language music recommendations, as Spotify’s music recommendation engine can now be tuned to Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. Indian users can select their preferred language(s) to receive tailored Daily Mix, Home, Radio, Search results and recommendations.

For the first time ever on Spotify Free, smartphone users can now play every song on demand.

Playlists have also been made specifically for the Indian market. They've been curated and will be regularly updated by a team of Indian music experts. These include 'Indiestan', 'Rap91', 'Namaste Love', 'Punjabi101', 'Bollywood Butter', 'Top Hits in Hindi', 'Tamil', 'Telugu' and 'Punjabi'. Meanwhile, Spotify also introduces 'Starring…', a series of playlists featuring the best music from the most popular Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, and Punjabi actors. Spotify’s recommendations will also include songs from India’s favourite movies and actors.

Finally, new algorithmic playlists will track what's trending in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

Cecilia Qvist, Spotify’s Global Head of Markets, comments: “We’ve worked closely with local teams of musicians, creators and cultural tastemakers to ensure Spotify is going to be loved, used and favoured by people all over India whether they’re listening to local Bollywood and Punjabi hits, or discovering curated global playlists of K-pop or Reggaeton.”