As Spotify claims “Music For Everyone”, access to online music at all times has become a living reality at minimal to no expense to one and all. Online streaming music services has been growing as an industry in India with existence of not only home grown companies such as Jio Saavn, Gaana, Hungama and Wynk Music but the presence of international brands such as Spotify, Amazon Music and Youtube Music as well. The features and offerings of these services provides unlimited access to music library and downloads across various genres of music.
They come with their own methods of payment for subscription which gives the user ad free music along with access to downloads for offline consumption where as for non subscribers, it is a common practice of music being interrupted with multiple ads in between with less/no option for downloads.
PRODUCT ADOPTION: Current Status
As per the various reports, it has been highlighted that the Indian OTT industry is set to grow at a steady rate with the online consumption generating a huge market revenue for the companies. It has been largely published that Indians spend close to 21 hours per week of listen time on OTT services with OTT contributing roughly 67% to the total music industry revenue.
Thus, the increasing market share gives a fair idea of the increase in the user base over the next coming years.
In the next info graphic, we get a better sense of the rate at which the users are set to utilise the online music streaming. As captured by Hungama Music which has registered a 37% growth in music streaming sessions since 2017, with users spending 145 million hours streaming music and users downloading 40 million songs in 2018, which happens to be 29 times more than the offline music in 2017. It is without a doubt that the adoption of OTT music services is covering larger base as it is growing annually.
With the growing expansion of both the online streaming music industry with the user base, we can analyse each of the adopter profile as follows:
Innovators- They are the most enthusiastic of all and are directly/indirectly involved with music and technology in their everyday life, and would invest in spending money to buy tech products.
Early adopters- They are the ones who enjoy music streaming services and gladly talk about the online music to the public and become champions in the journey of building trust, reputation and voice of the product.
Early majority- They make 34% of the total user base and enjoy listening to music. They are greatly influenced by the voices set out by the innovators and early adopters about the product and usually stick around.
Late majority- They are the ones who are usually skeptical while buying any new product and depend on the approval and adoption by the community in general.
Laggards- They are the ones who are usually not interested in music and are very slow to change.
Currently, the online music streaming services in India fall in the early majority stage of the product adoption life cycle with the expected growth rate in adoption.
CHALLENGES: Causes delaying rate of music streaming services adoption in India
Membership/Subscription Costs- The proposition of buying services to listen to music vis a vis free music streaming through other platforms such as YouTube and online music websites.
Availability of Internet- Internal accessibility to all in India still at a growing phase and reliability on local radio services and offline music options.
Revenue Sharing: The lack of clarity about the revenue sharing model between the music label, artists and the streaming service firm.
4. Variety of Music: To successfully gauge the interests of the listener and provide maximum variety of options for music and keep them hooked to the service.
GROWTH AND PRODUCT ADOPTION COMPARISON: Music Streaming Services
GROWTH HACKS
Integration with Social Media Apps- All the existing music services provide shareable links on different apps such as Facebook and Instagram.
Free Trial Period/Freemium Model- All the OTT apps provide free trial before subscription as well as limited features for non-subscriber streaming.
User generated playlists- Based on the types of music heard by the user, provide playlists accordingly.
SUMMARY
With online music streaming services aspiring to grow with the user base in India, the industry has successfully surpassed chasm and has a following of early majority and is expected to thrive and flourish with increasing features and services in the future.
Sources:
https://yourstory.com/mystory/has-the-music-streaming-industry-gotten-the-indian-cbe063xgkb
https://qz.com/india/1573236/youtube-music-spotify-jiosaavn-spice-up-indian-music-streaming/
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/at-21-hours-a-week-indians-clock-higher-listen-time-on-ott-platforms-than-global-average-95025.html
https://medium.com/swlh/product-adoption-lifecycle-of-spotify-india-27c6bc6d389d
https://medium.com/@shivdatta.parmar/product-adoption-life-cycle-music-streaming-services-in-india-6fe6ea2c4a89
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/21/spotify-five-big-challenges-streaming-music