Tuning in to possibilities

Thanks to cheap data and the growing use of mobile devices, music streaming is becoming popular. This is benefitting the music industry.

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The Indian music industry is benefitting from the rising popularity of music-streaming apps, such as Spotify, Wynk, JioSaavn, YouTube Music, on Google Play and Apple Stores. As estimated by CRISIL, the industry grew at an annualised rate of 25 per cent between FY15 and FY20 on the back of rising smartphone penetration, falling data prices and growing individual-based content consumption.

A profitable venture that works well with a certain scale, the music business favours well-established players and acts as an entry barrier. Costs of acquiring music content can be divided into two categories – sound-recording rights (60 years) and publishing rights (the life of the composer plus 60 years). To put it in a nutshell, music companies invest once and reap the dividends for more than 60 years. This imparts visibility to the revenue stream and makes it predictable.