{"id":192961,"date":"2024-04-12T14:35:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=192961"},"modified":"2024-04-16T20:30:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T19:30:08","slug":"indias-streaming-market-is-on-the-cusp-of-a-digital-boom-with-unprecedented-opportunity1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/indias-streaming-market-is-on-the-cusp-of-a-digital-boom-with-unprecedented-opportunity1\/","title":{"rendered":"‘India’s streaming market is on the cusp of a digital boom with unprecedented opportunity.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World Leaders is a regular series in which we turn the spotlight toward some of the most influential industry figures overseeing key international markets. In this feature, we speak to Kumar Taurani, Chairman and Managing Director of India’s Tips Industries Limited. W<\/strong>orld Leaders is supported by\u00a0PPL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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India is one of the global music industry’s biggest growth stories.<\/p>\n

According to stats published<\/a> by Luminate in January, the market saw the biggest YoY increase in total annual on-demand music streams of any nation last year.<\/p>\n

As MBW reported at the time, if annual streaming volume growth in the US<\/strong> slows in 2024, as many expect it will \u2013 but India<\/strong> manages to sustain its 2023 YoY streaming growth margin this year – India could become the world\u2019s largest music streaming territory by volume in 2024.<\/p>\n

It’s no surprise then, that Kumar Taurani, a veteran of India’s music business and Chairman and Managing Director of prominent India-based music company Tips Industries,<\/strong> tells us that, “India’s streaming market is on the cusp of a digital boom with unprecedented opportunity”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The catalyst behind the impressive growth trajectory of India’s streaming business in recent years was the arrival of cheap mobile data in the market a<\/span>bout six years ago.<\/p>\n

The person responsible for that was billionaire and Reliance Industries owner Mukesh Ambani, who, via his telco company Reliance Jio, launched what Tips’ Kumar Taurani says was “nearly free internet” for millions of people via the rollout of a national 4G mobile network. The Wall Street Journal<\/em> reported at the time<\/a> that he spent $35 billion of Reliance’s money on the plan.<\/p>\n

“The surge in content consumption, facilitated by more affordable data, has been a key driver in the rapid expansion of the streaming audience,” explains Kumar Taurani.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kumar Taurani, and<\/span>\u00a0his brother Ramesh Taurani, <\/strong>started out in India’s music industry in 1975 by setting up a distribution network for vinyl records, claiming to have become the biggest distributor in Western India b<\/span>y 1977.<\/p>\n

“We dealt with major companies like Gramophone Company of India Limited, now known as Saregama and Polydor now known as Universal Music,” explains Kumar Taurani.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 1981, the brothers ventured beyond distribution and launched their own small-scale record label, focusing initially on non-film and regional music. In 1988 they ventured into Hindi film music.<\/p>\n

“When we entered the film music market in 1988, we realized the need for our own cassette manufacturing due to the challenge of getting cassettes manufactured by others,” remembers Taurani.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tips Cassettes & Records Co was subsequently born with the brothers establishing multiple large factories to meet the demand for their label’s music. They<\/span>\u00a0started producing about 10,000<\/strong> cassettes per day, and by the early 1990s that output increased to around 200,000<\/strong> cassettes daily.<\/span><\/p>\n

“This expansion in the 1990s significantly boosted our capacity to meet the growing demand for cassettes at that time,” remembers Kumar Taurani.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Indian music industry has evolved significantly since the company started, and Taurani notes that their<\/span> journey “from analog vinyl and tape to digital files and online streaming has indeed been a challenging one”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The physical market in India for Tips today “is nearly zero” says Taurani. “<\/span>We’re not actively involved in the physical business anymore; it’s minuscule and limited mainly to vinyl for collectors. We receive a few inquiries for vinyl\u00a0and we are in discussion about licensing our content.”<\/p>\n

He adds: “It has shown us the importance of adapting fast and being proactive to be prepared for any unknown digital source of monetization. The next opportunity (or challenge) will be AI-led music.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, the listed company’s<\/a> business is thriving digitally. Content available on the company’s official YouTube channel, for example, which has nearly 64 million subscribers<\/a>, has racked up billions of combined views.<\/p>\n

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