As widely speculated, Spotify and T-Series, India’s leading music and film company, have agreed to a global content deal, the companies announced today. The deal will see Spotify’s worldwide audience gain access to T-Series’ entire Indian song catalog, including Bollywood and regional movie soundtracks, as well as non-film albums and emerging artist content.
The deal moves forward Spotify’s plans to launch in India, which Variety reported in November is expected to come early this year.
Founded in the early 1980s as a cassette label, T-Series now boast more than 160,000 songs in its catalog, among them some of the most popular Indian songs recorded over the past 30 years. It also has the world’s most-viewed YouTube channel, with videos that have been viewed more than 58 billion times and more than 80 million subscribers since it launched in 2006.
“One of the ways Spotify has helped revolutionize music discovery is through its ability to connect millions of fans with the best music and artists from all over the world in a way that just wasn’t possible before streaming,” says Paul Smith, Director, Head of International Licensing at Spotify. “Today’s deal with T-Series significantly strengthens our Indian music catalogue, bringing Bollywood to more than 200 million Spotify users worldwide. Having T-Series on Spotify is hugely significant and shows our commitment towards providing the very best music for our users.”
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Chairman and Managing Director, T-Series, Bhushan Kumar adds: “We are bullish about India’s most popular music company tying up with the world’s most popular music streaming service. We are confident that together we will be able to reach new markets and spread the love for Indian music far and wide.”
Neeraj Kalyan, T-Series President and Digital Head continues: “Indian music lovers globally will be in for a musical treat with over 160,000 songs in several languages from the T-Series catalogue. I am sure Spotify’s expertise earned in mature markets will be helpful for the Indian streaming industry and will pave the way for a paid ecosystem in the streaming business in India.”
The deal comes after last June’s roll out of Spotify’s Global Cultures Initiative, which included the launch of Indian music hub Desi, now with over 930,000 followers and featuring popular playlists such as Desi Hits.