Amazon Music grooves online music segment with app launch for Prime subscribers

Music streaming segment is getting hot in India. After Gaana $115 million fundraise led by Tencent today, Amazon has formally launched its music streaming service Amazon Music in India.

The entry of Jeff Bezos-led company has made the online music industry more competitive. The service was earlier limited only on Echo devices. Importantly, the service is still limited to Prime members only, that costs Rs 999 annually. 

Currently,  million of tracks are live across 11 different languages, including Hindi, English, Bhojpuri, Marathi and others.

Currently, Google Play Music, Apple Music, Savvn Pro, Gaana Plus, Hungama Music Pro and Wynk Music are the notable players which offer paid music streaming services. Some of the players also provide the free version of the music streaming service, which lacks many important features available in paid services.

Freemium models come with a series of brand advertisements

In the past few years, these music platforms have also witnessed huge investments from large corporates. Chinese Internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings and Times Internet is in advance stage to invest $115 million in music streaming platform Gaana.

If the deal goes through, the Chinese firm Tencent will acquire a minority stake in the music streaming app. So far, Gaana is completely owned by TIL and hasn’t raised capital externally.

In 2016, Xiaomi made its investment debut in India, with a $25-million funding round into Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala are also the investors in Hungama.

Last year, Xiaomi partnered with Hungama to offer a free subscription of Hungama Play and Hungama Music to the users of its smartphones. 

Meanwhile, BookMyShow also forayed into audio entertainment with Jukebox in June last year. The service allows users to download free music through music credits earned by them while booking movie and event tickets at BookMyShow’s platform.

Last year, Apple Music partnered with A R Rahman to set up 2 Mac Labs at the KM Music Conservatories (KMMC) based in Chennai and the upcoming campus in Mumbai.

The Mac Labs aimed to teach students how to create music using Logic Pro X, Apple’s professional music creation app for the Mac.