A lot of music is missing for India

[cvnalthacvr]

Plan

Premium

Country

India

Device

Android/Desktop

My Question or Issue

I was awaiting Spotify's arrival to India with bated breath and immediately signed up for the trial when the option was up. But my glee slowly faded when I saw how much of my favourite music isn't available at all. I understand that Spotify is having licensing issues but I didn't think it would be this severe.

I could have lived without stuff that wasn't released in India at all, but a majority of the music that's missing is readily available on other streaming services like Apple Music.

I was so ready to cancel all my other subscriptions and switch to Spotify for good, but I don't know if I want to now. If this isn't sorted out by the end of my trial, I will not be renewing my subscription with Spotify.

I really hope that won't be necessary. I'm a big fan.

[isaumyam]

I'm sure Spotify will figure out a way to get the deal with Warner. It's just a matter of time.

[akb_ted]

Don't worry. All the songs will be soon available in India too. You just have to giceitg some time. 

Please enjoy all the songs which a available right now.

Ananth

[Amitabh]

Quick update: because of that letdown I contacted Spotify that day and had my subscription cancelled. I got the refund within seconds. So kudos to them for amazing service. 

I've reactivated my Google play music subscription for now. Will be using the free version of Spotify for podcasts till they sort out their issues.

[VandanaMK]

Spotify has reported 1 million new subscribers in India only after 1 week of their launch. So surely Spotify is not a failure in India. Spotify is using the old Indian law(Copyright Act 1957 Section 31D) which allows Spotify to get license without permission of copyright holder i.e Warner Music Group. So within few months all songs may be available in Spotify. 

[isaumyam]

@VandanaMK it won't work as Court has already denied Spotify the 31D. Let's see what happens but yes in a few months hopefully it will be fixed. Also considering the music space in India, 1 Million is really a tiny number. But when Spotify fix the problem with Warner, they will get more subscribers.

Interesting article to read: https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/4/18250563/spotify-india-one-million-subscribers-tiny-dent-music-mar...

[user-removed]

Even i cancelled all my subscriptions with apple music, amazon music, Jiosaavn just to learn that all of my favorite songs are greyed out on spotify. I really hope that all these songs become available as soon as possible... I made a yearly subscription with spotify and I really don’t want my money to be wasted... 

[kartikaysharma]

Yes, this is because of WMG suing Spotify, however it should hopefully get sorted out soon. The court would find a suitable solution and would hopefully rule in the listeners' favour, or even better for us the two corporations might settle out of court.

[user-removed]

Yes. I came across the details of the lawsuit. Its a shame Spotify decided
to launch its services in India despite they knew that they lacked most of
the greatest global music hits in their catalogue. I hope they sort this
mess out as soon as possible... At this moment I just regret that I got the
annual subscription without knowing about all these issues...

[hritikghatge007]

Yep , for now all I did is sync the local files, hope they get this issue resolved ASAP

[hritikghatge007]

---

@SantoshPSS wrote:

Yes, not only Warner Music Group but also Saregama, which is an Indian company, is not available on Spotify India, but available in Spotify US, and also Charlie Puth is missing, too. I’ll keep both the services, Apple Music and Spotify Premium just to make sure this doesn’t again happen in the future, but I really hope this gets sorted out pretty soon, I pay monthly because I want to listen to my favorite music, not for the app...

---

Well from what I know Saregama let's you purchase the song for 5-10 Rs. From their official website , Maybe that feature is not available for Non-indian customers , and that's why the feature their catalogue for Spotify USA . That's just what I think .

The real question is some Indian albums are available but songs arent.. I mean 2-3 songs of their album are missing and I just don't get it .

[SantoshPSS]

I contacted Spotify Chat Support and they refunded my yearly subscription, then I took the monthly subscription just in case Warners Music doesn’t get available yet, you should do the same thing, keep in mind, if you have purchased the yearly subscription at least 14 days before, you are probably eligible for a refund.

[SantoshPSS]

You can still try to ask for a refund through chat support 🙂

[user-removed]

From where did you get the option of chat support??? Did you mean the email support???

[SantoshPSS]

But I do have the account on their official website and purchased a lot of songs, it does support India and also Apple Music has all Saregama available. I just want to play Saregama published songs because my iPad Pro just is not enabled to support WAV downloads and play them in the music app if I purchase from their website... Hopefully Spotify sorts all of these issues... thankfully I got a refund but still not received the funds yet... but I am still paying for Apple Music and listening my favorite songs there until these issues sorts out... Saregama just cant do this, these Indian Old Telugu Songs are originated in India near where I live. Unfortunately my favorite artist is no more so he can’t even blame them for putting the songs in the USA and not where they originated from. I know that this is a long message but... I am super frustrated...

[user-removed]

Even I got a refund of my payment and I re-installed apple music and I'm gonna use it until Spotify satisfies the lawsuit and expands its music library in India... Really glad that they refunded the amount.... Kudos Spotify... 

[SantoshPSS]

Awesome! Now it’s the waiting game I guess...

[hritikghatge007]

I truly understand the frustration , I too subscribed to Apple music but cancelled it immediately cuz the app isis unoptimiz for Android , app crashed like **bleep** , the only option is play music , Amazon music and Spotify .

And btw you can download songs from Saregama in mp3 format 

[SantoshPSS]

No, unfortunately iPads doesn’t support MP3 or any other type of songs to be directly downloaded to the Music App on iOS. I have an iPad Pro so Apple Music is pretty much perfectly working on iOS 12.1.2.

[isaumyam]

Just today I realised the Saregama issue. Earlier I thought the problem is only with Warner as per the news. But never expected Saregama. Found out in a hard way. Anyways let's wait and see what happens.

[user-removed]

This has hit me hard too. I have been rooting for Spotify ever since my cousin introduced me to her US version on her phone. For a while I used VPNs to access it in India (yes I'm guilty) I had tons of music added to my lists ever since. It was one of my happiest days when they finally launched here but imagine my shock to find most of the songs greyed out. This is an absolute bummer cos I subscribed right away after installing, without skipping a beat. I even unsubscribed from Apple Music the very same day. Guess I'll have to rethink my choices now. 

 I very much hope they sort this out soon. It really doesn't make any sense for me to pay for this service if I can't listen to the music I love, or the features I love (Discover weekly playlist). India is a promising market for Spotify, if, they get their act together. Fingers crossed.