Spotify has renewed its global licensing partnership with Warner Music Group, following which users in India will get access to songs from artists represented by the music label.
Warner Music Group’s roster of artists include Ed Sheeran, Cardi B, Metallica, Coldplay and Neil Young among others.
This move comes months after the Swedish music streaming service had signed a licensing agreement with Warner Music Group’s music publishing division Warner Chappell to end their long-drawn legal battle in the country.
Following this agreement, Spotify had made available songs from Warner’s music publishing unit that represents prominent songwriters like Katy Perry, Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, and Led Zeppelin among others.
Last month, Warner Music Group had also expanded its presence to India, appointing former Sony Music India executive Jay Mehta as its first Managing Director for the market. Apart from India, Mehta will also oversee other SAARC markets including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
“The two companies look forward to collaborating on impactful global initiatives for Warner artists and songwriters, and working together to grow the music industry over the long term.” Spotify and Warner Music Group said in a joint statement.
In India, Spotify competes with Gaana*, JioSaavn, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Bytedance’s Resso, and Hungama.
In a letter to shareholders in October last year, the music streaming giant had said that India market outperformed its forecast by 30% this quarter, but hadn’t disclosed any specific information on its user base in the country. It had claimed to have clocked two million monthly active users in India in April last year.
Globally, Spotify had reported a total of 271 million active users for the January-ended quarter, of which 124 million were paid subscribers.
*Disclosure: Gaana was incubated by Times Internet that owns ETtech
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