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New York-headquartered music streaming app Saavn LLC said it is in talks with various mobile phone manufacturers to embed its app into phones.
The company, which bagged a $100-million funding from a clutch of investors including Tiger Global Management, said it is also adding various asset class to music besides creating a social network for music.
Rishi Malhotra, Co-Founder & CEO Saavn, said, “Music streaming is the future. We have grown multiple times and in the last 18 months alone, we have grown 10x. About 75 per cent of our usage is in India and largely through mobile phones.”
Malhotra said that a large percentage of its usage was through mobile devices. Saavn said it has over 18 million active users and over two million songs in its catalogue. Saavn said it is looking to cross 20 million users by the year-end.
Malhotra said the fresh capital will be used to drive product development and customer acquisition. In addition, the company is investing in its proprietary ad technology, growing the sales force and inking new content deals. Besides Tiger Global Management, existing investors Bertelsmann India Investments, Steadview Capital, Liberty Media, and Mousse Partners had made an investment into Saavn. Malhotra said: “The challenge for the market is data-friction. In emerging markets, it is not as if people are not willing to pay but there are not enough mechanisms to pay. People are metering themselves on data. As data and mobile wallets improve, we will see the app-economy boom.”
Asked about its revenues, Malhotra said, “We don’t disclose revenue but subscription and advertising contributed to our revenue”. He said that company had over 250 advertisers. Saavn said that its top markets are India, the UAE, Singapore among others. Saavn has an ad-supported ‘freemium’ service and a paid pro service, through which it generates revenue.
Rising regional contentOn its pricing, he said there was a price parity with competition.
“Our entry level subscription is ₹99. Regional content is also showing significant rise.” On Saavn social, Malhotra said its features were similar to Facebook and Twitter and it lets users follow friends’ profiles and playlist.
In India, Saavn competes with Hungama, Airtel’s Wynk, Gaana.com among others.
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