With a surge in the number of online music streams, the announcement of Spotify India, a Jio-Saavn partnership and the entry of Amazon India to music, you can only guess how dynamic the Indian market is at the moment for online streaming services.

With the world’s second largest population, India is also the second largest online market with over 460 Million internet users. With the advent of cheaper internet and tariff plans, the number is only set to rise. According to Statista.com, India will have more than 635 Million internet users, which is almost half of the current total population. Such huge numbers call for even bigger business opportunities and larger revenues which is one of the most crucial reasons that world’s largest corporations are sailing towards Indian shores. Amazon had recently launched Amazon Music Prime in India but to mixed reviews. Most tech reviewers weren’t really happy with the UI and Inventory of the service while some felt that it all comes down to personal preference. However, Amazon had other plans in line following right up. One of them is a major collaboration with Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS). IPRS is a registered copyright society, which was deemed so by the Government of India in November 2017 under the Copyright Act, 1957. IPRS represents more than 4000 Indian Authors, Composers, and major Music Publishers. The list includes names like Saregama, Times Music, Sony, Aditya, Tips Music, and Venus. As a Copyright Society, IPRS is also authorized to collect the royalty on behalf of its author and music composer members. Chairman of IPRS, Javed Akhtar was quoted saying:

"The IPRS arrangement with Amazon India heralds a new era for IPRS and the music community in the country. With a strongly united IPRS, Indian lyricists and music composers can finally now start to reap the benefits of the historic changes to the Copyright law in India along with our music publisher members. IPRS looks forward to similar collaborative & positive relationships with platforms in India and is committed to transparent and ethical functioning.”

Keen on the collaboration and talking about the future of the Amazon’s streaming service. Sahas Malhotra, Director, Amazon Music India also added:

"We are happy to collaborate with IPRS and keen to strengthen our ties with all important stakeholders in the Indian music industry. We will continue to offer a transformative music listening experience to our customers with the ad free Amazon Prime Music offering that comes at no additional cost to Prime members in India."

Following the collaboration, Amazon Music recently added more than 25,000 songs from Telugu Music Label, Lahari music’s catalog. Lahari Music is a music label under Lahari Recording Company. The company is also responsible for buying audio rights for Baahubali for a large sum of Rs. 3 Crores. [caption id="attachment_4700" align="alignright" width="225"] Lahiri Music[/caption] In a recent interview, Sahas Malhotra was also quoted saying “We are going to remain in the space of curation. Our partnership with top music IP owners and curated content are our key USPs”. Which certainly translates to Amazon Prime Music has no plan of content creation in India, unlike Amazon Prime Video. With competitors like Saavn having started its own music label and entry of the streaming giant ‘Spotify’ in India. It will be interesting to witness the streaming revolution take India up with its grooves and drops.