Spotify goes live in India with Premium pricing on par with Apple Music

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Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming services available and the company continues to grow. One of their strategies is bringing their service to new markets and India has been on their radar for a while now. Late last year we got word from a report that they had laid down the tracks and they were scheduled to arrive in India sometime during the first quarter of 2019. There was still a lot of details to work out at that time but the day has finally come and Spotify is officially available in India right now.

The company had a number of hurdles to overcome before they were able to bring the service to the country. A major hurdle was coming to an agreement with local record labels. They have had an office within the country for about a year now and during that time they were able to sign up a number of labels to their service but at the time of the report late last year, some of the biggest local record labels had yet to partner up with the company. Spotify feels they have a solid strategy within the country due to aggressive pricing but that may not be good enough for these record labels.

It has been revealed that Spotify has been able to secure deals with both Sony Music and Universal in the country (via Variety). However, their negotiations with Warner have gotten so bad that they’ve reportedly “grown belligerent.” As a workaround, Spotify has claimed a statutory license meant for TV and radio broadcasters. Warner has filed an injunction in India but as of now, that injunction has been denied. Spotify has even gone as far as to have accused Warner of “abusive behavior” which harms “many non-Warner artists, labels and publishers.”

Details of pricing have been revealed and as mentioned, they are aggressive. For those who don’t want to pay anything, the company has a free ad-supported tier for them to use the service. If you want access to Spotify Premium though then you will be charged 119 INR per month after your trial has ended. This is actually one rupee less per month than Apple Music is charging in the region. For those who don’t want to commit to a full month, you will also have single-day, week and month plans to choose from.

Discounts are also available as you can get 3 months up front for 389 INR, 6 months up front for 719 INR, or 1,189 INR if you pay for a full year. Students are also eligible for a 50% discount.

Screenshots via Tushar Mehta and Kishan Vyas of XDA.