We’ve been expecting Spotify to launch in India sometime in the spring, based on previous gossip from industry sources. However, Variety reckons the streaming service could go live even earlier than that – as soon as this month.
“Spotify is rumored to be hosting a launch party in Mumbai on January 31, which means they’re working against the clock to secure deals before the end of the month,” reported the trade site.
It added that international major-label deals aren’t really the issue here, but rather other licensing agreements with Indian rightsholders, going beyond the deal announced earlier this week with film-music giant T-Series. “While the partnership with T-series covers a wide range of commercial Hindi music, including Bollywood soundtracks, the main regional music dominating India includes Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali, which likely means connections with labels specializing in those languages,” suggested the article. It also claims that the sticking point for major labels isn’t the length of Spotify’s proposed free trial in India, but rather the (low) royalty-rate it wants to pay during that trial.
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