What kind of music do you like? It’s a question that never fails to stump me, for there is no one answer to it. A couple of years in my early career as a music journalist opened my world with a heady mix of jazz and hip-hop, R&B and Hindustani classical — introducing me to a wide spectrum from English songwriter-singer Dua Lipa to multi-instrumentalist Tajdar Junaid.

But while I am still trying to answer that question, an easier query is: How do you listen to your music. The advent of YouTube, of course, made music so much more accessible than it was till the 90’s, when people lined up in Channel V music stores to buy whatever ‘foreign music’ was at hand with pocket money saved over weeks, if not months.

In recent years, my preferred platform has been Apple Music — for its excellent music catalogue. But I was suitably excited when Spotify launched in India recently. Of course, many of us were already on the app, but it was a tedious affair, for it meant hoodwinking the app into believing that one lived in the US. I spent a few glorious months on Spotify at the expense of a generous friend who would recharge my account every month, as well as log in for me, as those were the rules stipulated by Spotify US back then.

But that was then. The moment I heard that the Swedish giant was now in India, I promptly downloaded it. The result was a flashback to sweet memories — and a few unpleasant surprises.

For those who came in late, Spotify is an audio streaming platform that gives you access to its rich repository of music. And what makes it different from other such apps is that it has a great algorithm, which nudges you towards music that it knows you’ll enjoy.

As soon as the app downloads to its clean new dashboard, it asks you to choose the artistes you’d like to listen to. Artistes are classified by genre, displayed as neat circular thumbnails with a recognisable album or band photograph, as well as their name. As you keep scrolling for more, depending upon whom or what you’ve chosen, the selection prompts you towards newer genres and suggestions. Depending upon your choices, Spotify gives you a daily mix. I like Indian indie — so my first mix had Mumbai-based musician Donn Bhat, electronic music’s Nucleya, hip-hop artist MALFNKTION and Chennai/Bengaluru-based dance-and-punk band The F-16’s. The second mix had Mohit Chauhan’s band Silk Route and singer Rabbi Shergill (still remembered for Bulla ki jaana main kaun ), while the third mix had tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and Carnatic’s best, MS Subbulakshmi.

The best part about Spotify is that its algorithm helps people discover new music. Not surprisingly, it clocked in one million users in the ad-supported free category that it was offering in India soon after its February 27 launch. Of course, that’s less than one per cent of India’s total number of subscribers to its streaming services. Its direct competitors are apps such as JioSaavn and Gaana, as well as international apps — Amazon music, Google and Apple music.

Spotify’s India entry, however, has come riding controversy. Its conflict with Warner Music over licensing rights means that the one million-odd compositions credited to Warner’s songwriters cannot be streamed in India. Thanks to the spat — currently in court — some popular Indian compositions are unavailable in the country. Users have complained about their favourite artistes such as Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park missing in the Indian version due to the ongoing lawsuit.

The trial plan, giving one month of its free premium service, is limited to credit card users only. Others can directly buy the service, using Paytm or BHIM UPI.

What is especially nice about Spotify is that it allows you to add multiple devices. So if you are listening to music on your mobile but want to transfer it to your tablet and then your desktop, Spotify obliges you with a smooth transition. Currently, the app offers music in English and seven Indian languages — Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. Another endearing feature is the students’ premium account which allows students to get an account at a subsidised rate of ₹59 per month (as opposed to ₹119). A user can also recharge their account for as low as ₹13 for a day. It has 40 million songs and three billion playlists. And there are podcasts and talk shows, too.

With falling data rates and rise in the number of smartphone sales, players in the music industry look at India as a high-stakes market. Currently, home-grown player Gaana dominates the market with 80 million subscribers. Will Spotify hit the spot? Stay tuned.

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