Music labels seek new track as streaming hits paywall
India's music labels are facing a slowdown in revenue growth as the country's audio streaming ecosystem is undergoing a structural shift, according to industry executives.
With the shutdown of several streaming platforms and others moving behind paywalls, the ad-supported model has come under pressure, creating short-term disruptions across the industry, they said.
"There has been a lot of short-term pain over the past few quarters, with multiple services shutting down-first Resso, then Hungama and Wynk Music, and now Gaana moving behind a paywall," Vikram Mehra, managing director of
Saregama
, said on an earnings call.
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This has led to a halt in revenue from free services, he said, adding, "But in the long run, it's a very healthy sign for the industry's growth."
Saregama reported flat revenue in its music licensing and artist management segment for the March quarter at ₹171 crore, unchanged from a year earlier. The company attributed the stagnation in part to the shutdown of Wynk Music in December 2024.
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Vikas Somani, head of strategy, M&A and business development at
Zee Entertainment
, highlighted the impact on Zee's music business. "We have seen growth tapering to single digits, mainly because some of the homegrown streaming platforms have shut down or slowed down. But if you strip them out and look at a like-to-like basis on other platforms, the growth is pretty satisfactory. We expect things to stabilise this year and growth to pick up again," he said.
While Zee Entertainment doesn't disclose music revenue separately, the company earns more than ₹400 crore annually from the segment, according to industry estimates.
Over the past 18 months, three audio streaming services-Wynk Music, Hungama and ByteDance-owned Resso-have shut down. Others, such as Spotify, Gaana and JioSaavn, have pivoted to subscription-based models from largely ad-supported ones.
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