Music streaming services are focusing on original content to widen the net

At a time the music industry in India moves further towards digital consumption, the push for improved listening experience and original content by streaming services shows competition is set to grow to capture more audiences. Jukebox, the music streaming service of online ticketing brand BookMyShow, is the new kid on the block. Launched four months ago, Jukebox provides free music downloads for users of the BookMyShow app — within which the streaming service is present — as well as digital radio. To enhance the experience it is also creating original content.

Aditya Kuber, associate vice-president, audio entertainment, BookMyShow, points out that research before the launch of Jukebox suggested that a user is typically looking for a longer listening experience where she is able to consume more of her preferred kind of music — be it an artist, mood or genre.

BookMyShow, which has been in operation for a decade, has 50 million app installs. It helps to keep track of audience preferences in terms of content and experience. “At BookMyShow, we are aiming to be a 360-degree entertainment destination. For the last year or more we have been creating great videos that area available within the app, so music was our next natural extension for users,” he says.

The company has roped in Nikhil Chinapa, Rohit Barker, Rishi K and Brian Tellis, who have years of experience in the music and entertainment industry, to tap into their understanding of audiences. It is also offering original talk show content across genres such as horror, sport, comedy, entertainment and Bollywood, featuring the likes of comedians Suresh Menon and Jose Covaco. These are available in formats starting from a couple of minutes to up to 30 minutes.

As an example of attempts to offer new perspectives on how users are connecting with favoured content, Kuber talks about a series on the Fifa Under-17 World Cup coming to India, to coincide with the ongoing edition. He explains that audiences vary even though they may be under one umbrella of a genre such as comedy. “It comes down to how good the content is and how well it is packaged and presented, so that’s our focus,” he says, adding that as it continues to work with creators at the company’s in-house studio they will build content vertically and horizontally across categories.

Gaana is another example of a music app that has tried to differentiate itself, through a non-film music platform called Gaana Originals that it launched last month. It is meant to be an 11-week programme where one independent song that is curated and composed by artists themselves will be launched every week. In five weeks, the platform claims to have crossed 20 million streams with six songs.

According to a report by Ficci and KPMG, the Indian music industry was estimated at Rs 12.2 billion in 2016, and it is expected to grow to Rs 25.4 billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 15.8 per cent. Digital music generates an estimated revenue of over 70 per cent of the overall size of the music industry, it added.

Jukebox aims to remain free and an ad-supported service with innovations in advertising. “The goal is not to disrupt users’ listening experience, yet give the brand an opportunity to reach out to the audience,” says Kuber.

For Airtel-owned app Wynk, however, content for audio is not as significant as that of video. Kartik Sheth, CEO, Wynk, says their strategy is to get the best available material and at the same time not clutter the experience with a lot of long-tail content. He explains that Wynk, which has tie-ups with over 300 labels, may not have a similar number of tracks as competitors, because they include long-tail tracks including remixes so that it leaves listeners confused when they are looking for the original track.

While he does not rule out steps to differentiate the app on the content side, Wynk spends a lot of time on optimising the background performance. One of its recent innovations has been around network awareness (recognition of the experiences on 2G and optimising for those). “If you look at the MP3 listening experiences, ours is the only one where the app creates a signature out of each song and fetches data to make it look rich,” Sheth adds.

He adds that sustainability and profitability of music is a challenge globally. The combination of telco-based as well as OTT (over-the-top) offerings would help Wynk in this regard. “If you have both, the benefits come from being a part of a telco offering, like Wynk is for Airtel customers, as well as an OTT service that gives us ad and subscription revenue.”