MARKING A MILESTONE WITH MUSICAL MAESTROS
On completing five years, Spotify India threw a bash with the who’s who of the music industry. At the event, musicians Badshah and King highlighted how Indian pop music is breaking the scene in a filmdominated market like India, and why they chose to become pop stars. Meanwhile, artistes Devi Sri Prasad and Nimrat Khaira talked about Indian music going global and the international artistes they discovered through Spotify. Actordirector RJ Balaji and podcasters Yogi & Kabeer spoke to the audience about why they chose audio as their medium to connect with audiences — since it lets the narrator tell a story in a more wholesome manner than any other medium. Finally, Tejas Apte from Unilever delved into the relevance of audio advertising.
The enriching conversations were followed by a mesmerising fusion classical performance by sitar player Mehtab Ali Niazi, flautist Shriram Sampath and tabla player/percussionist Swarupa Ananth. They represented Spotify Echo, a programme that is bringing India’s most iconic musical instruments to the forefront through local artistes.
To close the evening, composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist, Pritam, brought together a few of the most loved voices such as singers Asees Kaur, Shilpa Rao and Neeraj Shridhar, to perform his top-streamed Bollywood songs on Spotify, including Shayad (Love Aaj Kal, 2020), Kesariya (Brahmastra, 2022), Tere Pyaar Mein (Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, 2023) and more. Pritam also took the stage to pay a special tribute to the late singer, KK, for which several artistes, including Shaan and Sonu Nigam, joined him.
In the last five years, Spotify has deeply invested in creating a music and podcast listening experience that the Indian consumers can feel connected to. As a result, 70% consumption on Spotify in India is for local music. At the same time, the company has taken Indian artistes to the world, with a 85% growth of consumption of music from India globally, between 20222023 alone.