It has been almost a year since Spotify officially launched in India. I was one of the many excited for the streaming service as I was quite impressed with the song library as well as the app’s algorithms to recommend songs. However, with great dismay, Spotify was missing quite a few artists including the likes of Metallica, Led Zepplin, Coldplay, Linkin Park to name a few.
This was due to the fact that Spotify India couldn’t finalise a deal with one of the biggest music labels in the world, Warner. It went on to go with a statutory license which meant it got away with paying a lot less. Warner took serious action and had filed an injunction. Now over the course of months, I did notice some bands and artists added to the app but it seems that the wait is finally over.
The Sweden-based music streaming service has signed a multi-territory licensing agreement with Warner Chappell, a division of the Warner Music Group. Both Spotify and Warner reportedly requested to dismiss the pending litigation. This essentially that all the music that you have been missing will finally make its way to the service.
“In less than a year, millions of Indian listeners have joined Spotify, listening to their favourite artists and songwriters from across the globe. We're pleased with this agreement, and together with Warner Chappell Music, we look forward to helping songwriters and artists connect with more fans, and for more fans to enjoy and be inspired by their music,” a Spotify spokesperson said in a statement. A spokesperson from Warner said “We're happy with this outcome. This new deal appropriately values our songwriters' music and expands our licensed partnership with Spotify to include India.”
Notably, Spotify’s struggle in India is far from over as it is yet to finalise with popular Indian music label, Saregama Music.
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