Spotify has entered into a global content deal with T-Series, India’s largest homegrown record company.
With over 160,000 songs, the T-Series catalog includes some of the most popular Indian music recorded over the past 30 years and will be made available to all Spotify users from today (January 14).
MBW sources tell us that Bollywood specialist T-Series, a movie and music company, is the biggest record label in terms of local market share in India.
T-Series continues to battle it out with online personality PewDiePie for the biggest YouTube presence in the world.
T-Series’ catalog includes Bollywood and regional movie soundtracks, as well as a wealth of non-film albums and emerging artist content.
The deal follows last year’s roll out of Spotify’s Global Cultures Initiative, which included the launch of Indian music hub Desi, now with over 930,000 followers and featuring popular playlists such as Desi Hits.
It’s estimated there are over 30 million people of Indian origin living overseas, many residing in major Spotify markets including the USA, Mexico, Brazil, the UK & Germany.
“We are bullish about India’s most popular music company tying up with the world’s most popular music streaming service.”
Bhushan Kumar, T-Series
More than 4m users globally regularly listen to Indian music content on Spotify, while ‘Bollywood’ is the most popular search term for fans of Indian music on the platform.
More than 200m users now use Spotify around the world.
“Today’s deal with T-Series significantly strengthens our Indian music catalog, bringing Bollywood to more than 200 million Spotify users worldwide.”
Paul Smith, Spotify
“One of the ways Spotify has helped revolutionise music discovery is through its ability to connect millions of fans with the best music and artists from all over the world in a way that just wasn’t possible before streaming,” said Paul Smith, Director, Head of International Licensing at Spotify.
“Today’s deal with T-Series significantly strengthens our Indian music catalog, bringing Bollywood to more than 200 million Spotify users worldwide.
“Having T-Series on Spotify is hugely significant and shows our commitment towards providing the very best music for our users.”
Chairman and Managing Director, T-Series, Bhushan Kumar added: “We are bullish about India’s most popular music company tying up with the world’s most popular music streaming service.
“We are confident that together we will be able to reach new markets and spread the love for Indian music far and wide.”
“Indian music lovers globally will be in for a musical treat with over 160,000 songs in several languages from the T-Series catalog.”
Neeraj Kalyan, T-Series
Neeraj Kalyan, T-Series President and Digital Head said: “Indian music lovers globally will be in for a musical treat with over 160,000 songs in several languages from the T-Series catalog.
“I am sure Spotify’s expertise earned in mature markets will be helpful for the Indian streaming industry and will pave the way for a paid ecosystem in the streaming business in India.”
Daniel Ek told investors as far March last year that: “We are working on launching in some of the biggest markets in the world, including India, Russia, and Africa which has a very rich musical culture.”Music Business Worldwide
