How Gaana and Spotify are navigating India’s unique music streaming landscape

Orbital

Spotify is celebrating its third anniversary in India, while Gaana is approaching its twelfth. What have they discovered about this diverse market?

Gaana CEO Sandeep Lodha and Spotify India market operations head Akshat Harbola join host Akhil Arora to talk about India’s unique music streaming landscape.

We discuss what has and hasn’t worked for both — Gaana is veering away from its TikTok strategy, and refocusing on music and podcasts — and what they have planned for the rest of 2022.

We delve into the music subscription business’ big challenge: making Indians pay regularly. Gaana and Spotify bust the myth on India’s paid subscriber base. Lodha points out the factors that are limiting growth, while Akshat thinks it’s about figuring out use-cases.

With the music catalogue being more or less the same for everyone, original podcasts are one big differentiator. But India’s podcast industry suffers from monetisation challenges, as we also touch upon in the podcast.

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Chapters

• Intro (00:00)
• What excites them (00:27)
• Spotify’s 3 years in India (02:24)
• Gaana is refocusing (09:36)
• Figuring India out (12:59)
• Why won’t Indians pay? (19:50)
• Original podcasts (26:45)
• Podcast monetisation (32:09)
• Roadmap for 2022 (36:39)
• Outro (39:03)

Illustrations: Akhil Arora/Gadgets 360. Photo credits: Gaana/Spotify/Screenshot by Arora/Gadgets 360.

Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. What excites them (00:00:27)

3. Spotify’s 3 years in India (00:02:24)

4. Gaana is refocusing (00:09:36)

5. Figuring India out (00:12:59)

6. Why won’t Indians pay? (00:19:50)

7. Original podcasts (00:26:45)

8. Podcast monetisation (00:32:09)

9. Roadmap for 2022 (00:36:39)

10. Outro (00:39:03)