Swedish music streaming firm Spotify to launch in India by May 2019

The Swedish music streaming giant Spotify will soon be launching its services in India.

As part of its launch in 13 new markets in the Middle East and North Africa, the music streaming platform plans to offer services in India with an extended free trial for 30 days, said a Variety report.

Earlier in March, the company has announced that it has opened an office in Mumbai and recruited about 300 employees to do groundwork. As per people aware of the development, the firm plans to launch the full-fledged service in the next 4-6 months.

CEO Daniel Ek had also confirmed about the development with already having created noticeable awareness about the firm in the market. Spotify's 72 per cent users are under the age of 34 and around 57 per cent users are using it on multiple devices, according to the CEO. However, he talked of licencing situations in the country is difficult part to deal with and creates hurdles for foreign players.

US labels including Universal, Sony and Warner had also held up Spotify's India launch by not providing music licenses for the market. It has reportedly been eyeing to acquire local firms Saavn and Gaana Music.

Till June 2018, Spotify has a presence in 78 markets across the world and 83 million paying subscribers. It claims to have over 250 partners across televisions, cars, laptops, receivers, and speakers among others.

Once operational in India, it will compete with local firms Gaana, Saavn, Hungama and Airtel's Wynk. Global players Apple, Amazon and Google play have also been offering online music streaming services in India.

The number of online music listeners in the country is expected to climb to 273 million by 2020, according to consulting firm Deloitte.