MUMBAI: Another one bites the dust in India’s cut-throat music streaming scene. Hungama Music is throwing in the towel, announcing its service will be switched off from 15 April, leaving users’ downloaded tunes and libraries gathering digital dust. This follows the premature demise of Resso and Wynk Music, making it a proper hat-trick of Indian streaming services hitting the skids in just over a year.
“Downloaded music and library content will no longer be available,” Hungama Music informed its users.
Resso, owned by ByteDance, blamed “local market conditions” for its January 2024 exit, while Wynk Music, owned by Bharti Airtel, effectively rolled its users into Apple Music after a strategic partnership.
Despite India’s booming streaming appetite – second only to the US in terms of sheer volume – local players are finding it a right pickle to compete with the global giants. YouTube, with its 462 million users, remains the undisputed king, while Spotify’s global clout and Apple Music’s strategic tie-ups are proving too much for many to handle.
Hungama Music, which ditched its freemium model for a subscription-only approach last year, clearly couldn’t keep up. Even a recent partnership with Virgin Music Group, aimed at boosting Indian regional music, wasn’t enough to save it from the digital graveyard.
“It’s a proper David versus Goliath situation,” a source close to the Indian music scene quipped. “These global behemoths have the cash and the clout to snap up users, leaving local players struggling to get a look-in.”
With only Gaana and JioSaavn left standing, the question now is whether they can survive the onslaught. Can they whip up subscription packages that are both tempting and wallet-friendly enough to keep punters from straying? Or will they too end up singing the blues? One thing is for certain, the Indian music streaming scene is proving to be a proper dogfight.
