The Indian government is now looking at ways to offer a more affordable way to stream music from popular streaming services.
The new move could see Indian musicians, writers and actors streamed for free on an ad-free platform, while the government will also give an additional 30% discount to the top 25% of online subscribers to encourage streaming.
In an attempt to encourage music streaming, the government has also put in place a plan to stream some music content in the country from a handful of artists, including singers Shakti, Suresh Kapoor and Nandan Nilekani, who will be featured in an upcoming music video.
However, the move comes with a price tag of Rs.2,500-3,000 per month, a much lower price than the current streaming price of around Rs.10,000.
This will only work for artists with at least three million music fans in India.
The government is also looking at other ways to encourage users to pay for content, including offering an additional 15% discount on purchases made through the government-owned online portal.
In a press release on Wednesday, the ministry said that its aim was to stream around 3.5 crore songs per day on a free-of-charge platform.
“The Government has decided to launch an ad free streaming platform on the platform that will offer a 5% discount for every user, as well as a 25% discount per song purchased,” the government said.
“The 5% discounted amount is available only for Indian citizens.
The 25% discounted price is available to all users who are resident of the country, and who have subscribed to the free-to-download platform.”
The music streaming service is not the first of its kind to come up for sale in India, which has a booming streaming market that has seen streaming services reach more than 100 million people, with Spotify overtaking YouTube as the country’s most popular streaming service.
The service is expected to reach millions of users in the coming weeks.