Monarch Of Indian Internet? JioSaavn Launched, Mukesh Ambani Now Owns Biggest Music Streaming Service In South Asia

With the launch of JioSaavn earlier today (4 December), Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the largest player in the music streaming market of South Asia, as reported by Financial Express (FE).

This launch comes after Reliance Jio struck a deal to merge Jio Music with the New York-based music-and-artiste platform, Saavn, in March 2018. The combined entity, JioSaavn, has a valuation of $1 billion.

“The integrated business will be developed into a media platform of the future with global reach, cross-border original content, an independent artist marketplace, consolidated data and one of the largest mobile advertising mediums,” a joint company statement noted.

As a launch offer, users can now avail 90-day premium membership plan of the service for free. Such ‘free-for-a-limited-period’ strategy was earlier employed by Reliance Jio as it tried to enter the Indian telecom industry, two years ago.

However, the competition in the Indian music streaming market has intensified. Apart from players like Times Internet’s Gaana, Hungama, Apple Music and Airtel’s Wynk, Spotify has revealed plans to launch its offerings in India. Spotify, the Swedish startup, is currently the world's largest music streaming service.

While Google Play music still has the highest market share among music apps in India, with the metric being the percentage of app installs, it is closely followed by JioSaavn and Gaana Music.

Also Read: Why Jio Is Winning The Telecom War