BENGALURU: From records, cassettes, CDs and radio to streaming songs online, the way people consume music has changed drastically over the years. There is also greater awareness and acceptance for different languages, genres, styles, formats and artistes, says Siddhartha Roy, COO, Hungama Digital Media.
The platform has recently released their first Sound of Fame report. It states that music streaming saw 3.2x growth in Karnataka in 2018. The state contributed 10 per cent to the total number of streams received in 2018, which has been recorded as the third highest in the country.
Soundtrack composer and singer Arjun Janya emerges as the most popular composer with nine songs to his credit in the list of top 10 most streamed Kannada songs of the year. Yenammi Yenammi from the film Ayogya and Chuttu Chuttu from the film Raambo - 2 were the top two most streamed Kannada tracks. “Kannada music had a 3 per cent share in the streaming pie. With Kannada films doing well, the prospects indeed show a lot of promise,” says Roy.
Interestingly, music streaming in regional languages has seen tremendous growth over the past year. Roy attributes the growth to increased smartphone usage, deeper internet penetration and inexpensive data, which made it convenient for consumers in tier II and III markets to use music streaming services with ease.
“At the same time, the popularity of music streaming platforms has also made it easier for users to discover and explore a vast library of content in their preferred languages. On Hungama Music, regional languages contributed 35 per cent to the total streams last year,” he says.
There are multiple reasons for the popularity of music streaming apps: They allow smartphone users to listen to music in the background while doing other activities on their phones, consumers can create their own playlists and such apps can also curate content for different occasions, moods and settings. “Streaming and downloading remain popular options and we are witnessing a growth in both. Over 40 million songs were downloaded on the app for offline listening last year, which is a 29x growth since 2017,” he says.
While the pros are many, concerns about piracy still remain in the industry. Roy believes the industry needs to look into new monetisation models and move beyond advertising and subscriptions. “There’s a pressing need for effective anti-piracy policies and measures that will prevent stream ripping and other forms of piracy,” says Roy.