Amassing over 1 Trillion streams in 2023, if India maintains similar volume increase for another year, it could potentially challenge the US for the title of the world’s largest music streaming market
Going over Luminate’s end-of-year report, I believe that I speak for everyone when I say India’s ascent to becoming the second-largest market for streaming globally is surprising.
In 2021, English-language music led with a 67% share among the Top 10,000 streaming tracks globally. By 2022, this share dropped to 62.1%, and it further declined to 54.9% in 2023. Meaning, non-English tracks accounted for about 45.1% of streams among the Top 10,000 tracks worldwide.
Now, turning to the crux of this story, Hindi claimed the third position with a market share of 7.8%, hinting at India’s trajectory of becoming a streaming force. Luminate’s report highlights a huge increase in the popularity of Hindi-language music, with its market share doubling from 3.8% in 2021 to 7.8% in 2023, propelled by a massive increase in total music streams in India.
In 2023, India amassed over 1 trillion total on-demand music streams (1.037 trillion) 😮, making it the world’s second-largest streaming market by volume, trailing only behind the US with 1.454 trillion streams. Notably, India witnessed the highest year-on-year increase in total annual on-demand music streams, with about 463.7 billion more plays compared to its 2022 figures, surpassing the US’s increase of 184.0 billion.
“A number of our songs take off from India, and it’s always surprising how we may not have even initiated any marketing efforts there”.
Now, if India maintains this high streaming volume for another year, it could potentially challenge the US for the title of the world’s largest music streaming market.
If you’ve been observant, some of Afrobeats’ major exports, such as “Calm Down” by Rema and “Love Nwantiti” by Ckay, might be testament to India’s growing appetite for streaming. These artists have achieved crazy success with these records, and if you zoom in, India makes a relevant part of that story.
Rema’s “Calm Down” featuring Selena Gomez made history by becoming the first African-led song to surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify. According to Spotify, India is one of the top markets driving streams of that record on the platform, prompting Rema to do a three-city tour across Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
“Calm Down” topped the official Indian Music Industry chart for the week dated January 9th, 2023, and earned certification of 13x IMI Platinum (Diamond) in India.
Similarly, the success of “Love Nwantiti” catapulted Ckay into festival headlining opportunities and a 20x Platinum certification in the country.
There’s also Burna Boy, who clinched the Number 1 spot on the official Indian music charts with the track “Mera Na bu,” where he collaborated with the late Indian rapper Sidhu Moose Wala.
Other artists from the East African region have, before now, taken steps further to foster this cultural exchange through collaboration. This is evident in the popularity of tracks such as “Pepeta” by Nora Fatehi and Rayvanny (97 million YouTube + Spotify streams), and “Jugni” by Diljit featuring Diamond Platnumz (41 million YouTube + Spotify streams). This interplay extends to songs like Diamond Platnumz’s “Haunisumbui,” which draws inspiration from the style of Indian singer Arijit Singh.
In a recent conversation with a music business player, he expressed, “A number of our songs take off from India, and it’s always surprising how we may not have even initiated any marketing efforts there”.
Despite the increase in streams, revenue from the Indian market may not reflect its volume due to lower adoption rates for subscriptions and premium offerings on streaming platforms, especially when compared to more developed markets like the US. The Indian music streaming ecosystem is still in the process of evolving towards monetization, aiming to align revenue generation per user more closely with play volumes. However, there are opportunities to leverage exposure, as seen by the success of Rema and Ckay in that region. The potential for more viral moments, akin to what we’ve witnessed with “Calm Down” and “Love Nwantiti”, exists. These moments can trigger a domino effect in other regions with higher Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for Streaming.
In a previous article, i mentioned how Ayra Starr’s “Rush” and Tyla’s “Water” commanded 2.1 billion out of the 2.9 billion global streams generated by all songs nominated for Best African Music Performance at the Grammys. It’s also no coincidence that both Ayra Starr and Tyla were mentioned to have a growing audience in India (and The Philippines). This, once again, underscores the significant support that India can offer and it’s potential to sample a record before passing it on for wider/global recognition and acclaim.
Essentially, if you’re one to target countries with established or burgeoning appetites for streaming, India might be a market worth considering.
