Analyze the product adoption lifecycle for Music streaming services in India and their growth
Introduction
Music has been an important part of our lifestyle from the very early age of human life. Even before understanding language, the human child is comforted with music only. That’s why they say “Music has no language “.
From classical live music to radio and now to online music streaming, The music industry has changed quite a bit over the last few decades in India with rising technology and digitalization. It’s hard to recall the time when FM radio was the only avenue for millions of Indians. These days the Indian market is chock-full of music streaming platforms and more are being launched with each passing year.
In line with the global trends, the Indian consumer is increasingly consuming content on digital platforms. Increasing internet penetration, mobile device proliferation and the convenience of consuming content anytime, anywhere are the key drivers for this trend
Not just major factors like internet penetration, digitalization, and smartphone proliferation helped but various other factors influenced online music streaming apps to grow in India, Some of which are :
- Localization: Music streaming services in the region have grown increasingly tailored to local user tastes. For instance, most services have built up their local language libraries(Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, etc ), making digital media more relevant to consumers. Regional content is particularly important in India where there are diversified cultures and languages.
- Social nature of music streaming: Most digital music providers allow users to create new accounts by signing into existing social media profiles, thereby making it easier for them to share digital music with others.
- Govt. gaining Control over piracy: Banning torrent websites and controlling piracy helped these apps to grow in the Indian market.
These helped music streaming apps to grow in India and shift consumer behavior from conventional music streaming like FM radio to online music streaming apps. According to a Cisco report, India is becoming a big battleground for video and audio streaming services firms. This is due to the number of smartphone users in India is expected to double to 829 million by 2022 from 404.1 million in 2017.
Current Battleground apps in audio streaming services are :
- Gaana: Dominates Indian audio music streaming owned by Times Internet Ltd with around 30% market share.
- JioSaavn: Backed by strong parent Company, Reliance industries, too has leading market share.
- Amazon Music: Subscription-based music streaming clubbed with prime membership of Amazon.com
- Apple Music: Subscription-based music streaming by Apple.
- YT music: Audio streaming emerged from YouTube.
- Wynk: Airtel telecom operated music streaming app comes complimentary for Airtel users
Product adoption curve and Music streaming industry place within it.
- Innovators(2.5%): They are a digitally sophisticated and tech enthusiast group of people.
Their social-economic profile is usually wealthy, urban, and tech-savvy.
Their language of consumption will be primarily English and Hindi.
Their digital content preference is usually global content.
They are willing to pay subscription fees for music streaming. - Early Adopters(13.5%): They are trendsetters and visionaries.
They are socially popular, their income profile is high (above Rs15L), and live in urban and semi-urban areas.
Their language consumption will be primarily Hindi/Regional and English.
They are willing to pay average subscription fees for music streaming. - Early Majority (34%): They are digital mainstream and pragmatists.
They have average social status and average income level.
Their language consumption will be primarily Hindi or Regional.
They usually consume free music content or take bundled plans with OTT or through telecoms. - Late Majority (34%): They are skeptical and conservatives.
They have below-average social status, medium to low income, and live in semi-urban and rural areas.
They have limited digital resources
They go for free music content only. - Laggard(16%): They are too skeptical and fringe.
They usually have low social status, low income.
They usually don’t want to go ahead of their conventional systems.
They also usually belong to the old age group.
Out of all this, we missed the gap that exists between “Early-adopters” and “Early Majority, we call it “Chasm” . Industry or product needs to cross this “chasm” to further grow it towards the masses. So, Has the online music streaming apps industry crossed “Chasm “? Let's see :
Total India's Population is around 1386 million and internet penetration is around 45 % i.e 624 million internet users. According to recent data by the Indian Music Industry (IMI), there are 200 million unique users to these music streaming apps which accounts for 32% of internet users and 14.5 % total population of India.
This surely tells us that the music streaming industry has successfully crossed the chasm and reached towards masses.
Competitive apps in the market and challenges faced
Many factors parallelly have helped the music streaming industry to grow at a much fast rate in India. Some of which are Digitalisation, Growing internet penetration, cheaper mobile data, and entry of international players into the Indian market.
Currently, the Indian market is dominated by 2 Indian music streaming apps i.e Gaana & JioSaavn who together holds more than 50% market share.
With the recent entry of international players like Spotify, YT music & Amazon music, the industry has grown rapidly in India but people tend to be price-conscious and subscription fees play a major role when trying to decide which service or app you want to select.
Below is data for various music stream apps and their calculated yearly premium subscription.
Other than subscription fees, Consumer also looks for song collection, audio quality, playlist, podcasts, etc. Different apps also have their unique selling points to customers as well. Let's quickly compare these via Table
Music streaming can now be seen as a booming market in India but consumers are still reliant on free services. Getting users on premium subscription plans is the biggest challenge for these companies. Ad-based listening and music subscriptions provided by telcos are popular among users in India.
Another challenge faced by these apps is putting up huge song libraries due to multiple languages and genres in India. Most consumers still prefer songs in their regional language like Punjabi, Bhojpuri, etc
Lastly, the future challenge that may be faced in the near term would be an increase in mobile tariffs which would adversely affect the consumption of music.
Growth Hacks to Adopt :
- More localized and Regional content: Gaana and JioSaavn managed to take a larger market share not just due to the early launch of their apps but due to huge regional song libraries which helped them in reaching a large population in India
- Freemium: India is price conscious country and apps need to take that in mind, either they minimize their premium subscription fees to be affordable to the masses or start giving premium services free and slowly start charging fees after a point of adaption.
- The podcast and audio shows: Many people especially the mid to old age group prefer to listen to audio shows and podcasts instead of just music. Indians have been habitual of listening to these shows and podcasts via conventional FM radio channels.
- Lighter and clean design: Apps needs to work out for lighter( memory consumption) and clean (UI/UX) specifically if they want to target more audience in India.
Summary
The online Music streaming apps industry is a growing market and would have a great future ahead. It has even grown 40% last year (2020 ) due to the coronavirus pandemic as people had more leisure time at home. It is also expected to grow nearly 600 million users in the coming three years.
India is complex and diversified with culture, Understanding your target market is very essential here. Apps need to brainstorm with their premium subscription to convert free users to premium subscribers by providing a better user experience, more content, and affordable plans for the Indian consumer.
