LocStudy: How Spotify Addressed Price and Culture in Its India Launch
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Music is deeply tied to culture. So when streaming service platforms like Spotify enter emerging markets, they face high user expectations for content, curated playlists, and podcasts that aligns with local tastes, languages, and traditions. Additionally, there is a lot of price pressure in these markets after years of reliance on unauthorized music sharing sites, torrenting, or P2P?methods like bluetooth to listen to music that is too expensive to purchase.?
Let’s take a look at how Spotify responded to the dual challenges of adapting for local musical preferences and price pressure when it launched in India!
Making it affordable
The more users you have, the better your chances of converting them. That’s the logic Spotify followed when it decided to tap into India’s 820 million active internet users by letting them try the service for free.?
The freemium model was a strategic response to Indian consumers' high price sensitivity. It provided access to playlists, recommendations, and high-quality streams, but with limitations designed to encourage upgrades to premium such as:
The free plan also had lower audio quality and didn’t allow for offline downloads—features included in the premium version.
To ease the transition from free to paid, they introduced affordable daily, weekly, and monthly subscription options. They also offered discounted rates for first-time subscribers and capitalized on India’s large student population with significant student discounts.
Next, recognizing the limited use of credit cards in India, Spotify removed payment barriers by integrating popular local payment methods like UPI, Paytm, Google Pay, and NetBanking.
Making it culturally relevant
Before launching in India, Spotify did extensive work with local researchers and cultural experts to make the platform relevant to the Indian community.?
Let’s take a closer look at the different pieces of the localization puzzle that Spotify thoughtfully brought together.
Language Support
Spotify connects with India’s diverse population by offering language support in its mobile app for Hindi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and Bengali.
Localized Marketing
The platform launched local advertising campaigns that featured Bollywood stars and regional celebrities. For example, in South India, Spotify ran a regional campaign promoting Spotify Premium with a TV commercial starring popular actor Nagarjuna, aired in both Telugu and Tamil.
Spotify also launched special campaigns during major Indian festivals like Diwali, Holi, and Eid. The platform created curated playlists for celebratory music (“Daily Diwali”, “Diwali Party Hits”) and ran targeted ads that reminded the audience of the importance of music during these festive moments.
For Diwali-2022, they even introduced a dash of sparkle into their “Now Playing” view! ?
Adapted Product
India is home to a wide variety of languages and music styles. Spotify localized its music offerings by incorporating not just Bollywood and mainstream Hindi pop, but also regional music in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali, Malayalam, and Marathi. The platform also includes classical Indian music, devotional songs, and folk genres.
Spotify also introduced hyper-localized playlists for different moods (e.g., "Romantic Punjabi," "Chill Tamil").
Lastly, recognizing the rising popularity of podcasts in India, Spotify invested in producing and curating podcasts tailored to the Indian audience. This included podcasts in regional languages, covering topics such as Bollywood, cricket (a national obsession), technology—and even dating.
Spotify in India Today
Spotify India continues to engage its audience by focusing on the country’s rich and diverse culture. In their social marketing, the platform showcases local artists, music in various Indian languages, and adapts global social media trends to fit the local scene.
The audience, in turn, actively engages and spreads the word. You can see this on their weekly Top Song India feature, where the number of shares is almost as high as the number of likes.
Spotify’s entry into the Indian market shows just how important it is for global brands to integrate the local culture as they’re building a market entry strategy. In a country as diverse as India, Spotify understood the challenge and is now benefiting from a loyal, engaged audience of listeners and brand followers across the nation.?
Cecilia Qvist, Spotify’s Global Head of Markets, said:
“Spotify’s arrival in India is a big step forward in our overall global growth strategy. A fundamental piece of that strategy is staying connected to global culture while allowing room for local adaptation, and we’ve certainly achieved that with our India launch.”
As you build out your global strategy, remember that language is your first step. We create end-to-end linguistic solutions for global brands, from engineering integrated localization processes to performing linguistic testing on your localized product. Reach out to discuss how we can support your linguistic needs.?