Spotify cracks the paywall
In a country where “free” has long been the most popular playlist, Spotify has pulled off a neat trick: getting Indians not just to listen but occasionally to pay.
When Spotify entered India in 2019, it walked into a market trained by YouTube and telecom-bundled apps to expect music at zero cost. Subscriptions were more theory than habit, and several rivals—from ByteDance’s Resso to Bharti Airtel’s Wynk—eventually bowed out, unable to square high content costs with low willingness to pay.
