Photo Credit: Gaana
India is a vast and diverse country with a rich cultural heritage. Music is an integral part of Indian culture, with different regions and languages having their unique styles and genres. Interestingly, the largest music streaming service in India is not from the usual suspects like Spotify, Apple, Google, or Amazon, but a local streaming app called Gaana.
Gaana boasts of an impressive 152 million monthly active users (MAU), and according to the company, it owes its staggering growth to a 40% increase in regional music consumption. Bollywood music consumption is another category that has seen a significant 35% growth in the past year. Gaana crossed the 125 million user threshold in December 2019, a testament to its popularity among Indian listeners.
The name “Gaana” means “song” in Hindi, making it an apt name for a music streaming service that focuses on offering hyper-local music tastes throughout India. The app offers a vast library of over 45 million songs in more than 20 different regional languages, catering to the diverse music tastes of the Indian population. The pricing is also cut-rate, making it affordable for millions of Indians who are connecting to the Internet for the first time and becoming brand new potential customers in the process.
Gaana’s 152 million MAU are more than half of Spotify’s global user base, double Apple Music’s global count, and many more than YouTube Music or Amazon Music have ever revealed. While each of these services is available in India with rock-bottom pricing, none can match the popularity or growth rate of Gaana.
Gaana’s success can be attributed to the fact that it is built from the ground up to cater to Indian music tastes, which vary significantly across different regions. “You have to understand the consumption habits by region and even by city,” says Gaana Chief Executive Prashan Agarwal in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Gaana’s focus on local content and user experience has enabled it to carve a niche for itself in the Indian music streaming market.
India’s relationship with music is of particular interest to the global music industry. According to recent findings, Indians spend an average of 21.5 hours a week listening to music, which is 20% higher than the worldwide average. The most-watched YouTube channel is T-Series, which showcases Indian music videos.
India is also one of the world’s largest emerging tech markets, with only half of its 1.3 billion people having access to the internet. Accordingly, many tech firms are scrambling to establish their presence in the country. Gaana’s success highlights the importance of understanding local markets and catering to the unique needs of consumers in each region.
In conclusion, Gaana’s success story is a testament to the power of catering to local tastes and user experience. The app’s focus on offering hyper-local music tastes throughout India with cut-rate pricing has enabled it to carve a niche for itself in the Indian music streaming market. With India’s music consumption habits on the rise, Gaana’s popularity is only set to grow further, making it a force to be reckoned with in the global music streaming industry.
