2 days ago
Indian Music Royalties on Spotify Rise as Regional Languages Boom
Spotify says Indian musicians earned much more money from streaming in 2025.
Their total royalties grew by 29% compared with the previous year.
Telugu music had the biggest reported increase, rising by more than 120%.
Music in Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil also grew.
People around the world streamed Indian artists nearly 335 billion times.
More than 40% of the royalties came from listeners outside India.
Independent musicians are becoming more successful without relying only on film soundtracks or major labels.
Regional-language music is reaching new listeners through Spotify's playlists and discovery tools.
The report says this growth is helping more artists build music careers.
Royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify grew 29% year-on-year in 2025.
Telugu royalties rose more than 120%, while Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil also recorded growth.
Indian artists were streamed nearly 335 billion times globally, totaling more than 20 billion hours of music.
More than 40% of royalties earned by Indian artists came from listeners outside India.
Independent and non-film music accounted for half of Spotify India's 2025 year-end top 10.
- Who
- Indian artists, independent musicians and Spotify are central to the report; Jayant Chaudhary also attended the New Delhi event.
- What
- Spotify's Loud & Clear report says royalties generated by Indian artists grew 29% in 2025, with strong growth across languages.
- Where
- The report concerns music streamed in India and globally; the Loud & Clear India event took place in New Delhi.
- When
- The figures cover 2025, with some streaming comparisons running from February 2023 to February 2026.
- Why
- Greater streaming, global discovery, editorial playlists, algorithmic recommendations and programs such as RADAR helped Indian artists reach and monetize larger audiences.
Key facts
- Total Indian royalty growth
- 29% year-on-year in 2025
- Telugu royalty growth
- More than 120% year-on-year
- Indian artist streams
- Nearly 335 billion streams globally in 2025
- Listening time
- More than 20 billion hours of Indian music
- International royalties
- More than 40% came from listeners outside India
- Daily Top 50
- 90% of Spotify India's tracks were by Indian artists
- Independent music
- Half of India's 2025 year-end top 10 came from outside film soundtracks
Quotes
Dhruvank Vaidya
Head of Music & Podcast at Spotify India.
“Streaming changed the scale of what was possible for me as an independent artist.”
deccanchronicle.com
“Telugu alone is up over 120% year on year.”
deccanchronicle.com
Simran Choudhary
Punjabi artist featured in the Dhurandhar film album.
“Streaming has completely changed what it means to be a Punjabi artist today.”
deccanchronicle.com
Sources
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