Chennai's Music Therapy School to Create Online Content for Using Music for Better Health

Chennai School of Music Therapy (CSMT), the Chennai-based music therapy training, consulting, and clinical services institute, is launching "Dhvani", a series of podcasts and videos on music and health, to help create awareness about the science behind the application of music for health and self-care.

Two posters were released to create awareness about the use of Music as a tool for Self-care by Chennai School of Music Therapy

These online resources also aim to equip the general public as well as music therapy professionals to use music in the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of diseases, especially the lifestyle diseases that are caused by stress.

Talking about Dhvani, Dr. Sumathy Sundar, Director, CSMT, said, "We relate music mostly with entertainment. However, it has the potential to heal. The objective of Dhvani is to explain the scientific basis to understand the relationship between music and health. As opposed to what we think, health is not just the absence of diseases. It is also about mental health and good relationships and leading a stress-free life. And music is not just for entertainment but it can be used to create multi-sensory stimulation, and brain activation for better health outcomes."

Dhvani podcasts and videos will present the science, and also demonstrate various activities around music, other than listening to it, to achieve the targeted body, mind, soul responses - and flowering of relationships. The recommended practices can be done with minimal resources like music players, mobile phones with audio players, and radio.

Dhvani resources will be available in English. A team of trained and certified music therapy professionals and researchers, headed by Dr. Sumathy Sundar, will create content at regular periodicity.

On the recently passed World Music Day, observed every year on June 21, CSMT has released exclusive posters for adults and children, explaining the potential, types of, and activities around music to relax body, mind, and soul; and improve relationships. The organisation has also conducted a webinar titled, Music for Health and Self-Care, on the same day that attracted global participation. The webinar was chaired by Dr. Sumathy Sundar, Director, CSMT, who delivered an address on "Music and the Soul".

The webinar had Dr. B Sivaprakash, Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI), Puducherry, as the keynote speaker. Dr. Baishali Mukherjee, Faculty, and Research Associate, CSMT, spoke on Music and the Mind. An experiential session on Singing for Healing was conducted by Mr. Vikram Kannan, Music Therapist, TTK Addiction Centre. Dr. Anasuya Ravikanti, Director, Swarajeevani Centre for Music Therapy, Hyderabad, spoke about Music for Relaxation.

Two posters from CSMT were also released by Prof. Sivaprakash during the event, to create awareness and sensitize the public about the use of Music as a tool for Self-care.

~ Newsvoir

Streamin' Music Group Now Officially Launched in India, Releases EP

Amid Corona Virus and lockdown stress, there is good news for the music lovers. Streamin' Music Group (SMG), a record label Founded by Keshav Bhardwaj (Klipr) has been officially launched in India today with New Delhi as their base of operations and global audience as their market.

On this occasion, Klipr has released 6-track Extended Play (EP), which goes deeper into the sound of tech-house. The EP will be available on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play etc.

Launched in 2018, SMG initially setup their base in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as the label's Manager was from that city.

[caption id="attachment_145572" align="alignleft" width="298"] Keshav Bhardwaj, Founder, Streamin Music Group[/caption]

'Massive Music' by Klipr was the labels opening track, which received tremendous response from the audience.'Massive Music' crossed 1 million views on YouTube in just a couple of months. In mid-2019, the label initiated their operations in India in order to give Indian artists the chance to showcase their music to the world simultaneously working with various artists globally.

"The idea to start a record label was conceived when I was travelling across Europe. During this time I met and worked with a few artists, which gave me an insight into the vibe and complexities of the Music Industry," says Keshav.

"Electronic Dance Music is popular in almost every country - USA, UK, Australia, India, Indonesia and Europe to name a few," adds Keshav.

SMG is currently releasing music by Klipr, a solo project by Keshav Bhardwaj, and BlareMob a combined project by Keshav Bhardwaj and Himanshu Chhabra. The duo has been making original hits since 2017. Himanshu is interested in the commercial side of the electronic dance music genres, whereas Keshav tends to favour the more intense and dynamic styles.

Klipr realized his passion for music during his early years of college. While attending university in London and finishing his education in business, Klipr travelled to some of the most notable music scenes in the world, including Miami, Ibiza, and Barcelona. He spent the last few years learning everything about music production and the music industry. His hard work and dedication paid off giving his music a noticeably intimate sound. He used this knowledge of the industry to create SMG, his own record label.(www.streaminmusicgroup.com).

As for BlareMob, after years of working together, their keen creative sense allows them to merge their individual influences and styles, resulting in a sound that is unique, exciting, and bold. While Klipr delves more into underground music, BlareMob has been producing commercial tracks lately. These tracks are perfect examples of the duo's ability to experiment and blend different sounds together.

While the songs are heavily driven by dance beats, they also feature technical synth breakdowns that are reminiscent of a true EDM banger. The result is a unique track that will appeal to both casual pop listeners and fans of heavier electronic music. A few of SMG's tracks are Klipr's Running Back, Leave Me, Connected, I'm So Good and BlareMob's Diamond, Hold Me and Stabbed. These tracks are available on all digital platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, JioSaavn, etc.

In India too, SMG intends to begin their stint by releasing music produced by Klipr and BlareMob.

SMG also has plans to give a platform to the Indian artists to showcase their music to the world. "SMG is all about versatility. We believe in giving creative freedom to our artists - whatever they want to express through their music. We don't want to confine our artists to a specific genre," says Keshav. Both Klipr and BlareMob have also been toying with the idea of performing at music festivals in India and abroad. So, one can soon look forward to such events too.

~ Newsvoir

TikTok parent ByteDance Launches Music Streaming Service Resso

ByteDance, which runs short-video platform TikTok, has launched a new music streaming service 'Resso' to take on competitors like Gaana, JioSaavn and Spotify in the Indian market.

Resso, which calls itself the world's first social music streaming app, is also looking at expanding its service to Indonesia in the the next few months.

"India is the first market where we are rolling out. The app is targeted at 18-24 year olds. It includes many exclusive and easy-to-use social features that will enable these Gen Z users to instantly connect with a larger community," Resso India Head of Music Content and Partnership Hari Nair told PTI.

He added that the company is working on expanding to Indonesia over the next few months.

For accessing features like downloadable content, unlimited skips and high-quality audio, users will need to upgrade to a monthly premium subscription of Rs 99 for Android and Rs 119 for iOS. The basic app is free for users.

Nair said the company's initial focus is on getting more users onboard but declined to comment on specific numbers.

Noting that the company has partnered with local and international players, Nair said Resso has also inked deals with labels like Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Merlin and Beggars Group, T-Series, Saregama, Zee Music, YRF Music, Lahiri Music, Divo and Muzik 247, among others.

Resso, which allows users to generate content for the 'Vibes' feature, has set up a content moderation team to ensure that that inappropriate content is put up.

The app has a scroll format (similar to TikTok) and allows users to discover music content as soon as they open the app.

"Gen Z and millennials are at the core of our offering and both music and social networking are central to their daily lives. The relationship between music and the listener is currently passive but with Vibes, comments and other features, Resso aims to transform this through a new and compelling music streaming experience," Nair said.

With increasing availability of affordable smartphones and cheap data plans, India is the largest mobile data consumer market globally -- an opportunity that global tech companies are vying to tap into.

TikTok, which is part of China's ByteDance, has seen strong growth in its userbase in India. The platform, which allows users to create 30-second videos, has seen content being generated across categories like education, entertainment and food. It has over 200 million users in the country. PTI SR

Gaana enters Shows & Podcast Originals segment; Aim to Host India’s Largest Podcast Library by FY21-end

India's largest music streaming app, Gaana has announced its first batch of platform-exclusive line-up of podcasts and shows, including ‘Ummeed’ with Zakir Khan, ‘Confessions’ with Sunny Leone and ‘Life ki Ranneeti’ with Rannvijay Singha that will go live on Gaana in Nov-Dec’19. These are a part of the brand’s overarching vision to host the country’s widest and most diverse range of original audio content by the end of FY 2021.

Commissioned by Gaana, produced by the hosts & syndicated from networks, the shows & podcasts in multiple languages span categories like Comedy, Bollywood, Devotional, News, Kids, Motivational, Astrology, Business, Lifestyle &. Culture and Self Help among others. Gaana currently hosts over 3000 diverse shows & podcasts in multiple languages including ‘Cyrus Says’, ‘The Bhagavad Gita’, ‘Stories of Akbar Birabal’, KadhaiPodcast's PonniyinSelvan and ‘Paisa Vaisa’ among others.

Speaking at the launch, Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal said, “Shows & Podcasts have the potential to be among the most popular mainstream non-music genres in our country owing to the diversity of our audience. At Gaana, we have been investing steadily in this space, and have now taken it up a notch with our Original Shows & Podcasts that would engage our users with interesting content that will inform, entertain and enthral them in more ways than one."



Gaana Podcast Originals ‘Confessions’ Host & Bollywood Diva Sunny Leone said, "I have always been judged by people for who they assume me to be. Judging someone is easy, even if you may not have walked in their shoes, or don't know the whole story. This fear of judgement leads most of us to brush our dark secrets under the carpet, and suffer in isolation. My upcoming Gaana Podcast Original ‘Confessions’ is about sharing this emotional burden that often seems too ugly to embrace. During the course of the show, I'll help fans embrace themselves by helping them reconcile even though they may have wronged or have been wronged. There's no judgement and no questions asked, just a friend in need."

Gaana Podcast Original 'Life Ki Rann Neeti' host, Rannvijay Singha said, "In my first ever podcast, 'Life Ki Rann Neeti', I wanted to unravel the journey, sacrifices & struggles that individuals go through before they achieve success and stardom. The idea behind the podcast was to share deeply personal stories from the lives of my family & friends who have inspired me and been an influence in my journey. I want to share the same lessons through fun and insightful conversations, while. offering today's millennial's life-lessons that will help them garner success in their personal and professional lives."

India is the world’s third-largest podcast market, second only to the US and China, and is one of the fastest-growing podcast markets globally. This presents a massive opportunity of growth for original podcasts & shows in the Indian market.

Gaana is India’s No. 1 music streaming app with more than 125 million monthly active users. Featuring more than 45 million songs across Bollywood, International and 30 Indic languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Malayalam, English, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Bengali, Assamese & Oriya. Launched in April 2010 by Times Internet, it is India’s go-to music app across genres and languages, offering unlimited, free and legal access to music. Gaana is owned by Times Internet and Tencent.

Wynk Music is now India’s #1 music app by Daily Active Users

Wynk Music, the OTT music streaming app from Airtel, continues to see a surge in its popularity amongst smartphone users in India.

Airtel today said that, based on Oct 2019 data from App Annie, Wynk Music is now the #1 music streaming app in India in terms of Daily Active Users. The performance metric underlines the massive user preference for Wynk Music when it comes to consuming music on smartphone.

Says Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel: “The team is focused on building the most personalised music experience for our customers. Wynk’s deep catalogue of songs combined with a holistic understanding of our customer’s preferences allows us to build an incredible product. And Airtel users get a free subscription to millions of songs in Wynk through the Thanks program.”

Regional music emerging as the next powerhouse

While Bollywood and International music continue to be the biggest categories on Wynk Music, it is Indian regional music that is witnessing the fastest growth. Overall, there has been 75% surge in number of users streaming regional music.

With increasing smartphone adoption in Tier 2 and 3 towns and rural areas, the demand for regional language songs and local artists is seeing massive surge. More and more users in these markets are getting online for entertainment and discovering music on apps vs pirated music loaded on their devices.

Wynk offers music in 14 Indian languages and regional songs now account for 26% of the overall 3 billion plus monthly streams on the app. Songs in Oriya, Gujarati, Assamese, Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri have seen 150%+ growth and are also popular outside the home states as well. Interestingly, Bhojpuri music is also seeing strong uptake amongst urban youth in metros like Delhi.

“Regional content is clearly the new HERO as more users come online and look for content that is relevant to them. We aim to invest disproportionately for further expanding our regional content library and work with local artists to bring them to the online world of music.” added Adarsh Nair.

The Wynk Music journey:

1. · Sept 2014: Launched in India; crosses 1 lakh downloads in 4 days


2. Feb 2015: Crosses 5 million app downloads


3. June 2015: Launches Data Save Mode


4. Nov 2015: Crosses 12 million installs


5. Jan 2016: Introduces MP3 Player Function- Plays Local MP3 files


6. Mar 2017: Crosses 50 million installs


7. Jan 2018: Crosses 75 million installs


8. Dec 2018: Voted India’s most entertaining app on Playstore


9. Jan 2019: Crosses 100 million installs

Older Age Groups Increasingly Embrace Audio Streaming Services - IMI Report

IMI, the organisation that represents the recorded music industry in India, today released the Digital Music Study 2019, which examines the ways in which music consumers aged 16 – 64 engage with recorded music in India.

Report highlights:

• Music listening is up. Respondents typically spend 19.1 hours per week listening to music – higher than the global average of 18 hours. This equates to about 2.7 hours – or the equivalent of listening to 54 three-minute songs – daily.


• Most people (80%) identify as ‘loving’ or being ‘fanatical’ about music. Much higher than the global average of 54%.


• Older age groups increasingly embrace audio streaming services. Engagement with audio streaming in India is strong, with 90% of all respondents accessing a music streaming service in the past month – up by about 7% over 2018. The highest rate of growth for engagement is in the 16 – 24-year-old age group, with 97% of that group accessing a music streaming service in the past month (+10% on 2018).

Copyright infringement remains a challenge for the music ecosystem. 67% of all surveyed used unlicensed methods to listen to or obtain music in the past month, while 63% used illegal stream ripping services – the leading form of music piracy.

Commenting on the findings in the report, Mr Aditya Gupta- Director, Aditya Music, said, “Thanks to cheap data and smartphone penetration Music consumption in India is growing regionally. The growth rate will be higher in the regional segment due to a low smartphone base. The increase in consumption of catalogues of music in languages also serves as a reminder of the diversity of India and reaffirms our belief that regional music is the new champion of India’s soft power.”

Mandar Thakur- COO, Times Music, remarked, “Through our various associations with local companies, Times Music, owns a significant market and leadership share in Punjabi music and its enriching to see it at #4 in this report. We have witnessed noteworthy growth in subscriber numbers, organic views and much better visibility of this genre of music. Moreover, since its inception, Times Music has been committed to the growth of India's own Spiritual and Devotional music, and it's great to see these cultural genres thriving in the age of streaming.”

Mr Devraj Sanyal, Managing Director & Chief Executive officer, Universal Music Group, South Asia, said, “At universal music group, we have seen the success of the Vyrl Platform and the change it’s bought into the music industry by enabling an artist first ecosystem. We believe that hip-hop too is a global phenomenon whose time has come in India to get into and win in the mainstream streamscape & compete with film & non-film music alike. With that, we launched “Mass Appeal India”, a global partnership between Nas’s label Mass Appeal and UMG India & South Asia to be the first of its kind global imprint for Indigenous HipHop for the world. Our first superstar release of Divine has already shown us how HipHop is popping like any major song & we’re seeing it as we get ready to drop his debut album in a few days. There is a lineup of incredible HipHop talent who will showcase their talent in the coming months on the MassAppealIndia label.”

Mr Vinit Thakkar- Senior Vice President-India & South Asia- Universal Music Group, commented, “Universal Music India’s VYRL Originals has been leading the creation of a culture and category of non-film music in India by being a true artist-first initiative which nurtures and develops singer-songwriters. Today it has the most enviable roster of talent across new & established artists from across the region. In a very short period, Vyrl has become to NonFilmMusic what Bollywood is to film music by enabling an ecosystem which is primed for artists as they spread their music into the streamscape with the same ability across mediums as film music has had for ages.”

Mr Blaise Fernandes, President and CEO, IMI, said, “The Digital Music Study 2019 has revealed some illuminating trends in India: the 80% music fandom base, the highest in the world, is the main reason for the 21.3% growth rate India achieved over the past years. The top 2 favourite genres are Bollywood New and Bollywood Old. The fastest growing segments are of consumers in the age groups 25-34 and 35-44, which is the perfect launch pad for a premium subscription-based model in India. 67% piracy rates remain a matter of grave concern.”

The full report is available at https://www.ifpi.org/downloads/Music-Listening-2019.pdf

The Indian Music Industry (IMI) is the apex body that represents the interest of the music companies a.k.a. Record labels on a pan-India basis. IMI is an IFPI affiliate which is the global body that represents the recorded music industry worldwide. All major music labels in India are part of this association. IMI is the leading force in India’s fight against music piracy and establishing IP rights.

Methodology

IFPI conducted global research in April-May 2019 which explored the way consumers engage with and access music across licensed and unlicensed services.

Fieldwork questioned a demographically representative sample of the online population aged 16-64 in the following territories: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States. The study was also conducted in China and India but results from these two countries are not included in “global” figures. These twenty-one territories accounted for 92.6% of global recorded music market revenues in 2018, according to IFPI’s Global Music Report 2019.

In total, 34,000 internet users were surveyed with higher numbers of respondents in larger markets. Nationally representative quota samples of between 1,000-3,000 respondents were set in accordance with online population size and demographic structure, as determined by the latest respective census data in each territory. This ensured that a standard error of +/- 3% was achieved throughout the data, at a 95% confidence level. Study design, construction, and analysis was conducted by IFPI with fieldwork organised by AudienceNet.

Music App Gaana Looking to Break-Even in Next 4-5 Years

Music app Gaana expects to achieve break-even in the next 4-5 years with 100 per cent year-on-year revenue growth and traction of paid users on its platform.

The company is also planning to invest in non-music genre to increase the engagement time of users on the platform.

Industry will become profitable when 50% of Indian people start using streaming apps, and 'paid music' as a model becomes the norm, Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal told PTI.

"Our revenue have been growing 100 per cent year-on-year. We expect to reach break-even at this rate in next 4-5 years," he added.

The Times Internet Group firm expects to double the number of monthly active users on its platform to 200 million in the next two years representing around 50 per cent share of the overall market.

"In next 3-4 years, we expect 500-600 million users will start using music app out of which we expect 30 million to start paying for music. This will take music streaming segment towards healthy profits. We will maintain our share of over 50 per cent in this kind of market as well," Agarwal said.

The company raised USD 115 million last year, which includes USD 100 million from Chinese company Tencent and USD 15 million from Times Internet.

Besides music, Gaana is now expanding non-music content to enhance user engagement.

"We are basically focussing on content from motivational speakers, meditation, workouts, comedy and story telling. This will enhance engagement of users on our platform," Agarwal said.

Gaana has also partnered with Google Playstore to launch an instant app for listeners who want to experience the app without actually downloading it.

"This feature is targeted towards the next 100 million users coming online. We have registered a 5 per cent surge in app installs per day as more people are realising the convenience of being able to listen to their favourite songs anytime anywhere even before they download our app," Agarwal said. PTI PRS

All India Radio Now Streaming on Amazon Alexa Speakers

All India Radio, a national public radio broadcaster of India since 1956, is now have its own streaming services on Amazon’s Alexa Smart Speakers. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information & Broadcasting and Sports & Youth Affairs Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd.) launched All India Radio’s Streaming Services on Amazon’s Alexa Smart Speakers here today. Chairman Prasar Bharati Shri A Surya Prakash, CEO Prasar Bharati Dr Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Shri Rajiv Sawhney, Principal Tech Business Development, Amazon Alexa (Asia) and other senior officials of the Ministry were also present at the event.

With this, Vividh Bharati and 14 other regional language streaming services of All India Radio will be streamed on Amazon Alexa.

Archival assets of All India Radio will be made available in Amazon Alexa in near future. All India Radio will get an additional platform for global and domestic audiences and will cover all the shadow areas of the terrestrial broadcasting in the regional, headquarters and metro cities in particular. Alexa would supplement All India Radio’s website and App.

Alexa is a voice-enabled platform led by artificial intelligence.

Speaking at the launch of Alexa in New Delhi, Mr Rathore said, Radio is the only medium which is being listened to across the country. He said, launching of All India Radio’s Streaming Services on Amazon’s Alexa platform would be a synergy of Old and Modern forms of Communication. The Minister said that this initiative will benefit Indian diaspora around the world.

[caption id="attachment_126404" align="aligncenter" width="960"] All India Radio's 17 services in 14 Indian Languages are now available on Alexa. [/caption]

Through this device, AIR will get an additional platform for global and domestic audiences and will cover all the shadow areas of the terrestrial broadcasting in the regional headquarters and metro cities in particular.

17 channels of All India Radio including Vividh Bharati, FM Gold, FM Rainbow and Northeastern Services are being live streamed on Alexa.

The device will lure people into listening to AIR which is bound to enhance the brand image of the Public Service Broadcaster.

Chairman Prasar Bharati Shri A Surya Prakash, CEO Prasar Bharati Dr Shashi Shekhar Vempati and other senior officials of the Ministry were also present at the event.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event on the anniversary of surgical strikes, Mr Rathore said, the Indian army has been serving the country by working round the clock. He said, youth of the country can take inspiration from the brave soldiers of the country. Mr Rathore said, every soldier is committed to safeguarding the borders of the country.

Source - PIB.nic.in | Newsonair.com

Increasing Penetration of Smartphones to Drive Indian Music Streaming Market - Research

Government initiatives such as Digital India and Bharat Net coupled with rising youth population, growing smartphone user base and increasing internet penetration in Tier II and Tier III cities to drive India music streaming market through 2023

According to TechSci Research report, “India Music Streaming Market By Type, By Revenue Generation, By Language, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013 – 2023’’, music streaming market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 22% until 2023. Reducing prices of smartphones and increasing data consumption owing to the availability of cheaper data plans are the key factors expected to boost demand for music streaming services during the forecast period. Moreover, rising youth population, growing investments in music streaming platforms, and various initiatives undertaken by the government such as Digital India and Bharat Net are anticipated to positively influence the country’s music streaming market in the coming years.

Launch of standalone platforms by players like Saavn is creating a new market for Indie music and the change in the mindset of consumers from not willing to pay for music subscriptions would help the music streaming market to grow at a robust pace in the coming years. Backed by its ease of use and robust music content availability, streaming services segment dominated the country’s music streaming market in 2017 and is anticipated to maintain its market dominance during the forecast period as well. Saavn, Google Play Music, Wynk and Gaana are among the major companies operating in India music streaming market. North region accounted for largest revenue share in India music streaming market in 2017 due to high purchasing power of people as well as huge and growing youth population.

Also Read - Alibaba to Launch Video Streaming Service in India with Paytm, UCWeb

“With the availability of local language content and free music streaming content on a variety of platforms, entry of global players in the market and improving access speeds, music streaming market in India is anticipated to register strong growth over the coming years. Moreover, tie-ups between music streaming companies and music labels is creating an attractive collection of music library. All the aforementioned factors are anticipated to boost average revenue per user and propel the music streaming market in India during the forecast period.”, said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

“India Music Streaming Market By Type, By Revenue Generation, By Language, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2013 – 2023” has evaluated the future growth potential of India music streaming market and provides statistics and information on market size, structure and future market growth. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in India music streaming market.

[Top Image - zeebiz.com]

Music Startup Gaana To Raise $115 Mn From Tencent, Times Internet

New Delhi-based Gamma Gaana Ltd., the parent company of music streaming service Gaana, is reportedly raising $115 million from Chinese investment firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Times Internet. Notably, Gaana is a Times Internet subsidiary.

With this investment, Tencent acquires a minority stake in Gaana, which was so far a wholly owned subsidiary of Times Internet.

Multiple media reports confirmed that Tencent and Gaana confirmed the deal was taking place.

The funds to be raised will be used by Gaana to further invest in artificial intelligence (AI) related technology to personalize music experiences for consumers and to further develop its subscription services for paying users, and to develop aligned music experiences for Gaana users, said an another media report.

Launched in April 2010 by Times Internet, Gaana.com is a commercial music streaming service providing free and licensed music content that are both Indian and international languages.

In October 2015, Micromax had invested in Gaana for a minority stake. Other than this, Gaana does not have any other investors on board.

Later in December 2016, Gaana announced that it had crossed 50 Million app downloads.

Music streaming services in India are generally considered as money-losing business. One promising, venture-backed streaming company in India called Dhingana struggled to secure licenses from record labels and create a sustainable business. Dhingana was snapped up in a fire sale in 2014 by Rdio, which filed for bankruptcy the next year and was sold to Pandora Media Inc.

Last time any Indian music streaming startup had raised funds was Saavn, which raised undisclosed amount from former Vodafone global CEO Arun Sarin, in September 2015.

Tencent, which has also invested in India's Flipkart, is dominating on the global music streaming business. It owns Tencent Music, a popular service in China and also swapped shares with Spotify last year, giving it a stake in one of the most popular music streaming services in Europe and the U.S. Tencent also owns Joox in Southeast Asia.

China’s Tencent Holdings has its eyes set on India’s booming startup industry. It made its investor entry into the Indian startup industry three years ago in 2015 by leading a $90 million round in Practo Technologies, a Chennai-based digital health platform. Later it made $700 million investment in India’s ecommerce leader Flipkart, in April last year.

Google failed to buy streaming service Spotify

According to Wall Street Journal, Internet giant Google had tried to buy Spotify, the streaming music service, last year but had to back off last minute due to its jaw dropping price tag.

As of May 2014, Spotify had around 40 million users in 56 countries which made it the number one service for streaming music on the internet.

According to the report in the Journal, Spotify was reportedly asking for a whopping $10 billion despite it being valued at $4 billion in its latest round of equity funding.

Majority of the Spotify users go for advertising support versions of the service while only 10 million choose the ad-free option.

The Internet giant had planned on spending around $20 billion to $30 billion on acquiring technology and companies abroad according to a letter it had filed with the regulators of US Securities and Exchange Commission last year.  The company has also revealed that in the recent past it had tried to buy a foreign company for $4 to $5 billion but in the end the deal fell through.

Google has also recently purchased a startup called Songza in order to boost its own music service at its Play online shop. Songza is a free online streaming music service which recommends tunes based on people’s mood. The service recommends playlists based on where people are and what are they doing, such as exercising, working hard in the office or starting a day at home. The service has applications tailor-made for iOS and Android Smartphones.

The financial terms of the deal disclosed were not released officially but if some rumours doing the rounds of the internet are to be believed, the deal was locked in at around $15 million.

According to Google’s post on its social network Google+, the company will try to incorporate the Songza features like by the users into its Google Play Music and YouTube wherever possible.

Songza has been to likened to Spotify rival Pandora, which is considered of having the leading advertising supported streaming music model in the world. The top established companies like Apple, Google and Amazon have music services that have to compete in a market where Pandora and Spotify currently are the top players.

Google failed to buy streaming service Spotify

According to Wall Street Journal, Internet giant Google had tried to buy Spotify, the streaming music service, last year but had to back off last minute due to its jaw dropping price tag.

As of May 2014, Spotify had around 40 million users in 56 countries which made it the number one service for streaming music on the internet.

According to the report in the Journal, Spotify was reportedly asking for a whopping $10 billion despite it being valued at $4 billion in its latest round of equity funding.

Majority of the Spotify users go for advertising support versions of the service while only 10 million choose the ad-free option.

The Internet giant had planned on spending around $20 billion to $30 billion on acquiring technology and companies abroad according to a letter it had filed with the regulators of US Securities and Exchange Commission last year.  The company has also revealed that in the recent past it had tried to buy a foreign company for $4 to $5 billion but in the end the deal fell through.

Google has also recently purchased a startup called Songza in order to boost its own music service at its Play online shop. Songza is a free online streaming music service which recommends tunes based on people’s mood. The service recommends playlists based on where people are and what are they doing, such as exercising, working hard in the office or starting a day at home. The service has applications tailor-made for iOS and Android Smartphones.

The financial terms of the deal disclosed were not released officially but if some rumours doing the rounds of the internet are to be believed, the deal was locked in at around $15 million.

According to Google’s post on its social network Google+, the company will try to incorporate the Songza features like by the users into its Google Play Music and YouTube wherever possible.

Songza has been to likened to Spotify rival Pandora, which is considered of having the leading advertising supported streaming music model in the world. The top established companies like Apple, Google and Amazon have music services that have to compete in a market where Pandora and Spotify currently are the top players.