SPOTIFY – GAME OR LATE TO THE STREAMING PARTY?

INTRODUCTION

Everything comes at a price. Even the that we are hooked to our supposedly free music streaming apps. As users we pay in terms of our time and for every 30 minutes that we listen to , the company makes $0.03 in ad revenues [1]. The average Indian user listens to 21.5 hours of music per week generating $1.29 per week per user in India. Out of $1.29, Spotify pays 70% of its revenue stream to the music producers which is approximately a dollar per subscriber.

Spotify Technology, the Swedish audio streaming major currently holds the largest market share in the global music streaming space (36%) [2] and reported 248 Mn total Monthly Active Users (MAU) out of which, 113 Mn are Premium Users and 141 Mn are Ad-supported (Free) users in its Q3 press release. [3] The company enables on-demand streaming of audio content and aims to combat music piracy by monetizing licensed content with an ad-supported, free-to-the-user model and a premium, paid model.

Fueled by the Over The Top (OTT) services boom in India, Spotify finally entered the Indian market in February 2019 with the launch of its successful marketing campaign “There’s a Playlist for that” amassing one million subscribers within a month of its launch. The Indian music streaming industry has a total subscriber base of 137 Mn that is expected to grow to 273 Mn by end of 2020 underlining the potential growth opportunities for Spotify. [4]

THE INDIAN MUSIC STREAMING MARKET

Before the entry of Spotify, the Indian music streaming industry had over half a dozen prominent players including JioSaavn, Gaana, Wynk Music, Amazon Prime Music, , YouTube Music and Hungama music. Currently, JioSaavn and Gaana are the leaders with over 100 million subscribers each. The revenue in the market amounted to approx. $220 Mn in 2019 and is expected to show a CAGR of 8.7% resulting in a market volume of $334 Mn by 2024(Exhibit 3). The streaming industry has also seen major activity in recent times with the merger of music with Saavn and entry of YouTube Music in March 2019.

1 Blog: Spotify’s Revenue Model is Brain Food www.startup-monk.com/spotifys-revenue-model/ 2 “Report: Spotify has 36% market share of music-streaming subs” musically.com/2019/12/09/report-spotify-has-36-market-share-of-music-streaming-subs/,Dec.9,2019 3 “Spotify Press Release Q3-2019” s22.q4cdn.com/540910603/files/doc_financials/2019/q3/Shareholder-Letter-Q3-2019-[Final].pdf

4 “Economic impact of the recorded music industry in India”, Deloitte www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/technology-media- telecommunications/IMI%20report_singlePage.pdf, September 2019 This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 1 | P a g e

Most of the players in the industry have adopted the freemium model which derives its revenue from streaming music to ad-supported free users and premium users. To provide a differentiated music experience, streaming players are also venturing into the creation of original content through creative podcasts of curated titles.

While the players continue to expand their services, they have certain pointers to focus on. Firstly, India currently has an abysmal rate of penetration in music streaming segment of 6.8% as is projected to grow to 7.6% in 2024 (Exhibit 4) – a trend inversely proportional to the increase in the number of smartphone users in India (India is currently the 2nd largest market for smartphones in the world). Secondly, the revenue from music streaming in India amounts to a mere 0.88% of the global revenues. So, whether there is any real potential in the Indian market is still unknown.

ARE INDIANS WILLING TO PAY UP?

Data retrieved from research by Quartz.com and YouGov reveal that only 23% of Indian users are willing to pay up for the premium versions of music streaming apps (Exhibit 8). Music downloaded from illegal websites/torrents has created a “music is available for free” mindset, thus preventing consumers from spending even a dime on music. Piracy has been a major hurdle in Indian entertainment market with varying degree of effects on industries such as film and music publishing.

Pricing of premium plans has had a direct bearing on the number of paid customers especially in a price-sensitive market like India. Spotify has priced its services at INR 1189/year which is significantly more than its competitors like JioSaavn and Gaana, both of which are offering premium plans at INR 399/year (Exhibit 10). As per a press release by the company of Q3 2019 the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of the Indian music streaming industry currently stands at US$2.38(Exhibit 5) as compared to Global Spotify ARPU of US$5.21. Thus, Spotify has a major task at hand in convincing Indian users to switch to their premium plan, given the little differentiation in the application services as compared to the offerings of other players.

SPOTIFY INDIA – WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

Spotify’s personalized playlists coupled with its Discover Weekly feature [5], which gives users a brand-new playlist comprising of a mix of old jams and new tracks based on their taste in music, is what sets Spotify apart from all its rivals.

The battle for supremacy in India is going to be difficult for the world’s biggest music streaming service with half a dozen large rivals and a price sensitive market, being major deterrents. Google and Amazon are selling their devices pre-loaded with their music streaming services ( and respectively) putting Spotify at a significant competitive disadvantage.

5 “Spotify’s Discover Weekly explained – Breaking from your music bubble or maybe not” medium.com/the-sound-of-ai/spotifys-discover-weekly-explained-breaking-from-your-music-bubble-or-maybe-not- b506da144123, Feb 11,2019 This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 2 | P a g e

However, a fast-growing user base might ensure that it gets volume comfort in terms of an increase in the number of ad-supported users.

In line with the above statement, Mr. Akshat Harbola, Head of Market Operations, Spotify India has mentioned that a majority of the revenues in the streaming music industry are still coming from ad-supported models and it is an industry challenge for all the players to make it more of a habit as opposed to the consumption of pirated content.[6]

Reaching to the price sensitive Indian listener is posing challenges for Spotify to penetrate the Indian market.

Can it position itself as the go to music app for the battle of the leisure time of its Indian audience?

6 “Majority of revenues in music streaming in India still from ads: Spotify” www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/majority-of-revenues-in-music-streaming-in-india-still-from-ads-spotify- 1567511589479.html, Sept 03,2019 This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 3 | P a g e

DELIVERABLES:

1. Given the nascent stage in which India’s premium music streaming industry, with a few percentages of users ready to switch to premium plans, suggest some differentiators in the application and draw a comprehensive marketing plan in order to increase the paid subscribers for Spotify India.

2. Spotify has wafer-thin ARPU as compared to the global average, while the Indian music streaming industry is experiencing mergers and JV’s with telecom subscribers by providing bundled services. In addition, Gaana & JioSaavn have severely undercut the market by introducing premium plans at Rs.399. Construct a comprehensive strategic plan to ensure the sustainability and profitability of Spotify’s operations in India.

This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 4 | P a g e

ANNEXURES

EXHIBIT 1: SPOTIFY’S PERCENTAGE OF SUBSCRIBERS BY REGION

Image credits: Quarter 3 report - Spotify

EXHIBIT 2: A BRIEF OF BUSINESS MODEL – SPOTIFY

Data Sourced from Annual Report FY19

This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 5 | P a g e

EXHIBIT 3: REVENUE ESTIMATE – MUSIC STREAMING INDUSTRY

Image Credits: Statista

EXHIBIT 4: MUSIC STREAMING USER PENETRATION IN INDIA(ESTIMATE)

Image Credits: Statista

This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 6 | P a g e

EXHIBIT 5: ESTIMATED ARPU FROM MUSIC STREAMING – INDIA

Image Credits: Statista

EXHIBIT 6: AGE WISE GROUPING OF MUSIC STREAMING USERS

Image Credits: Statista

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EXHIBIT 7: GLOBAL COMPARISON – USER PENETRATION IN MUSIC STREAMING SEGMENT

Source – Statista.com

EXHIBIT 8: COMPOSITION OF INDIAN MUSIC STREAMING USERS

Image Credits: Quartz.com

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EXHIBIT 9: USER PREFERENCES ACROSS MAJOR FEATURES

Image Credits: Quartz.com

This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 9 | P a g e

EXHIBIT 10: COMPARISON – LEADING MUSIC STREAMING PLAYERS

This case study has been prepared by Team Think Tank for its annual event: Tathagat XI 10 | P a g e