When Spotify entered India in 2019, it bet that the country’s musical future would extend far beyond Bollywood and film industries. Seven years later, that wager is paying off in unexpected ways.
Today, a song recorded in a bedroom in Kerala can now find listeners in Kansas, Kingston or Kyoto within hours. And that shift is reshaping the Malayalam music scene as well.
Malayalam recently emerged as one of the fastest-growing Indian languages on Spotify, spearheaded by a new generation of independent musicians whose songs are finding audiences well beyond Kerala.
To build on that momentum, Spotify launched RADAR Malayalam on Wednesday — the latest edition of its global artist development programme aimed at helping promising home-grown talent reach a wider listener base through editorial support, marketing and live opportunities.
In a breezy chat with TNIE, Dhruvank Vaidya, head of music & podcasts at Spotify India, discusses why Malayalam music is enjoying a remarkable global surge, the rise of independent artists, and how the platform hopes to nurture the next wave of new voices.
Malayalam is said to be one of the fastest-growing Indian languages on Spotify. What do you think is the reason behind this surge?
When Spotify launched in India seven years ago, we built for this market from the ground up, localising everything from the product and playlists to campaigns and artist partnerships. The goal has always been simple: make Spotify feel like home for the artists and listeners who create and enjoy music in India’s many languages.
Today, we curate over 500 playlists across multiple Indian languages. When Spotify entered the market, over 70 per cent of consumption on the platform was international music. Today, that has completely inverted. In 2025, over 90 per cent of the Top 50 songs on ‘Spotify Wrapped India’ were by local artists.
The growth has come across Punjabi, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Haryanvi and more, and it isn’t staying within borders. Indian artists’ streams in international markets have grown by over 2,000 per cent since 2019, with nearly 50 per cent of royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify in 2024 coming from outside India.
Malayalam is one of the most exciting examples of that shift. In 2024, we reported that Malayalam music consumption on the platform had grown by more than 5,300 per cent since its launch in India, making it the fastest-growing Indian language on Spotify.
Notably, when ‘Spotify Wrapped 2025’ unveiled its Top 50 Malayalam Songs, 12 were by independent artists. That’s a clear sign that listeners aren’t just discovering artist-first music; they are actively choosing it.
What exactly is RADAR?
It is our global artist development programme, designed to identify, nurture and amplify emerging talent. We often describe it as a career platform rather than a playlist because it goes beyond editorial support to include personalised marketing, content creation, live experiences and audience development.
The impact speaks for itself. RADAR now reaches 183 countries and has supported more than 1,000 artists. Together, those artists have generated 338 billion cumulative streams, 6.5 billion discoveries and 1.5 million adds to Spotify-owned playlists since joining the programme.
We launched RADAR India in 2020. Since then, we have supported more than 100 artists through the programme. We combine on-platform and off-platform opportunities, including live performances through partnerships with venues across the country.
Could you elaborate on how this works?
In 2023, we launched RADAR Tamil, followed by Punjabi in 2024. What’s been most rewarding is watching these artists build careers that extend well beyond the programme. Sai Abhyankkar (RADAR Tamil), for instance, has grown into one of India’s most exciting breakout artists, with tracks such as ‘Aasa Kooda’ and ‘Katchi Sera’ crossing 238 million and 201 million streams, respectively.
His growth extends well beyond streaming numbers. He has broken through regional boundaries, earning spots on Daily Top 50 playlists across the UAE, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. It’s a powerful sign that regional music is no longer defined by geography — it’s increasingly influencing global listening culture.
Mali (Maalavika Manoj), the first-ever RADAR India artist, is today one of the country’s most recognised independent voices. She releases music in English, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.
Today, our RADAR playlists across India have nearly 240,000 followers, and artists featured in the programme see an average increase of more than 70 per cent in monthly listeners.
Programmes like RADAR Live, currently held in Delhi and Bengaluru, take that journey beyond the app by connecting artists with audiences.
What prompted RADAR Malayalam’s launch now?
The simple answer is that the ecosystem is ready. Independent Malayalam music has reached a level of creative and commercial momentum. There’s a significant pool of high-potential talent waiting to be discovered.
What’s equally exciting is the diversity of artists driving this movement. When Chai Met Toast, one of our first RADAR India artists, is today one of the country’s most recognised bands. Alongside them, a new generation is breaking through — singer-songwriter-producer Aksomaniac, hip-hop artists such as Dabzee and Baby Jean, and many more. The range of voices and genres shows that this isn’t a single sound, but an entire ecosystem coming into its own.
With RADAR Malayalam, we want to help accelerate that momentum. Haniya Nafisa, our first-ever RADAR Malayalam artist, represents exactly the kind of talent the programme is built for. She is a singer-songwriter with a distinctive voice, building an artist-first career. Her music blends Malayalam indie, soft pop and intimate storytelling into something warm, contemporary and entirely her own.
What has brought about this indie shift?
The first point is that there is now a genuine independent music movement in Kerala. Several artists have built real audiences on streaming platforms.
The second is Malayalam hip-hop. Around 2022, a wave of indie tracks went viral, bringing an entirely new generation of listeners into independent Malayalam music. It opened up a genre that hadn’t previously enjoyed that kind of audience in the language. And it is only booming.
The third is that the film and indie ecosystems in Kerala are no longer operating in isolation. Filmmakers are increasingly collaborating with independent artists. That crossover is healthy for the music ecosystem as a whole.
Then there’s streaming itself. When listeners can discover music on their own terms, original music gets a chance to find its audience purely on merit. That’s been a fundamental shift.
How do you choose artists under RADAR?
Our editors are constantly listening to new music. There’s often a gut feeling about whether an artist has something that could connect beyond their current audience. Streaming numbers are only one part of the picture.
We also gauge the story an artist wants to tell, their vision and how they see their own trajectory.
We see artist development as a progression. Many artists first emerge through ‘Fresh Finds’ before moving into RADAR. In fact, five of our nine RADAR India artists this year were previously featured on ‘Fresh Finds’.
Haniya Nafisa is a great example of the kind of artist we are excited to support. From ‘Mulchedi’, which has crossed 11 million streams, to her latest album ‘Vaakkath’, she’s building a distinctive artistic identity — exactly what RADAR is designed to champion.
Music is being increasingly discovered through streaming platforms and social media. How has this changed the way artists build an audience?
Things have dramatically changed over the past five years ago. Discovery is no longer driven by a single platform or a moment. A song may first gain attention elsewhere, but listeners increasingly come to Spotify to explore an artist’s catalogue, follow them and become long-term fans.
We are seeing that shift. Gen Z in India has driven a 63 per cent year-on-year increase in streams of personalised playlists such as ‘Discover Weekly’, ‘Daylist’ and ‘Release Radar’, alongside a 108 per cent increase in ‘Niche Mix’ streams.
That’s clearly not passive listening. It reflects a growing appetite for discovering new artists and sounds.
In 2024 alone, artists from India were discovered 11.2 billion times by first-time listeners on Spotify. The bigger opportunity now is turning discovery into lasting fandom.
Any Malayalam artists or tracks that have found a place on your own playlist?
I have been enjoying Malayali hip-hop lately, especially artists like Dabzee. The ‘Aavesham’ soundtrack is an absolute favourite.