Regional languages are making significant waves on Spotify both in India and on a global scale. Malayalam music, in particular, has been identified by the streaming service as experiencing the most rapid growth among Indian languages in global consumption, with an astounding increase of 5,300 per cent; a trend closely followed by music in Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, and Hindi.
Artists such as film score composers Sushin Shyam and Gopi Sundar drew most of the Malayalam audience to Spotify’s regional editorial playlists, such as 'Latest Malayalam' and 'Trending Now Malayalam,' while 'Hot Hits Punjabi' and 'Punjabi 101' have seen the greatest global listenership, featuring over 2 million combined likes. 'Hot Hits Hindi' and 'Bollywood Mush' have also gained substantial traction.
Launching in India five years ago, Spotify entered the market as its 78th global destination, offering both free and premium subscriptions along with an extensive music catalogue. Since its introduction, Spotify has not only attracted a larger audience within India, running extensive campaigns across the country but has also observed a notable international interest in Indian music. According to Spotify, there's been an 85 per cent year-on-year increase in the international consumption of music originating from India.
International music constituted about 70 per cent of its streams during Spotify's launch year in 2019. Today, that number has flipped drastically, with the platform reporting that over 70 per cent of its music streamed in India is now local. Furthermore, Indian and Indian-origin artists are gaining recognition globally. Spotify India highlights the "most exported artists" who enjoy worldwide streaming including the likes of A.R. Rahman, Alka Yagnik, Anirudh Ravichander, AP Dhillon, and Arijit Singh. Despite Taylor Swift recently surpassing him, Arijit Singh remains the third most-followed artist on Spotify globally — boasting over 38 million listeners each month.
Regarding the local music scene, over 28,000 Indian artists are utilizing Spotify For Artists, which is double the number from the previous year. Additionally, more than 200,000 podcasts were created on Spotify in 2023 alone.
Image Credits: Spotify, Pexels
