Spotify plans to expand its operations in India over the next six months

Spotify will be expanding in India, probably in the next six months, according to Variety. Bloomberg confirmed the launch with anonymous sources claiming that the streaming service has recently signed agreements with many important rights holders in India, but not all. The streaming service will be broadcast in one of the world's largest and fastest-growing music markets – with a population of 1.3 billion – and will bring the number of broadcasters to 78. markets on which it is available.

When Spotify arrives in India, it will offer a trial period for full access longer than the usual 30 days of the company, according to the same source. Variety. Although streaming services are used by about 100 million people in India, only a small number of them choose to pay for them. Bloomberg observes that currently, the country's most popular platform for streaming music is YouTube, which can be used to stream music for free.

This is not the only obstacle that Spotify encounters with India. Music rights in the country are more fragmented because of the many local labels and publishers. Sony is the only one of the "big three" to have a significant footprint in India. In addition, notes Bloombergthere are more than a dozen different languages ​​to take into account and only a small part of the Indian population has a credit card (Spotify has found workarounds in the past; gift cards are popular in many country, for example).

The cataloging of popular music in India poses particular problems. Bloomberg reports that music from Bollywood films accounts for more than half of sales in India, but fans often search for these songs using character names rather than artist names.

When it will be available in India, Spotify will compete with popular local apps such as Gaana and Saavn, as well as with Apple Music, Google Play Music and Amazon Music.