How Bharti Airtel is trying to make its media business subscription-driven

Airtel Digital, which operates the firm's music and streaming video business, has 189 million monthly active users

Nishad Patki, 35, a trained musician and engineer, had been singing with a band for years. Soon after he went solo in May 2021 came an ad from Bharti Airtel’s Wynk looking for independent artists. Patki sent an unreleased song, was shortlisted in August and within 10 days hit a million streams. “I was like ‘wow’. I can do this full-time,” he said. His three songs on Wynk have hit 11 million streams. The 70 per cent revenue share allowed him to quit his job as assistant professor at the Sinhgad College of Engineering in Pune. “New artists are having