Listen to this new podcast episode about why India is the next big music market

For over a decade ldquoIndia is the next big music marketrdquo has echoed through industry conferences with the confidence of a prophecy What feels different now argue music journalist Amit Gurbaxani and TuneCore South Asia head Akhila Shankar on the The Indian Music Charts Podcast is that the prophecy is finally brushing up against proofIn their latest episode the hosts braid anecdotes with analytics They map the visible shifts through international delegations at Indian music conferences global festival franchises planting flags here and a steady uptick in international artistes touring the country against the hard numbers in the Luminate 2025 YearEnd Music Report In 2025 worldwide ondemand audio streams crossed 51 trillion up about 96 per cent from the previous year mdash a brandnew alltime high for the industryOn paper India is formidable It is the worldrsquos fourth fastestgrowing subscription market globally according to Luminate Indian listeners are demonstrably more open to international artistes than before Five Grammy winners from the most recent awards season performed in India over the last year This points to a touring pattern that would have seemed improbable not long agoBut charts Gurbaxani cautions are blunt instruments ldquoThey donrsquot always reflect whatrsquos happening on the ground because the charts essentially are a numbers and volumes gamerdquo he says An international act can sell out arenas in India without dominating the Spotify Top 200 That scale however masks a structural imbalance ldquoIn terms of volume rate wersquove been number two for a whilerdquo Shankar notes ldquoIf you contrast that with the revenue side then last year we were number 15 in global rankingrdquo India streams a staggering amount of music but earns significantly less per stream than mature Western marketsThe culprit is this adsupported listening still dominates ldquoWersquore still very heavily adsupported in terms of streaming revenue mix People are still very used to getting ads we are starting to see the productled efforts to subscription growth but itrsquos early stagerdquo she says and advertising revenues are not growing at the same pace as streams In the US and Europe subscription growth has plateaued However according to the Luminate 2025 YearEnd Music Report India saw a roughly 43 per cent jump in premium paid streaming yearonyear adding more than 23 billion new premium plays in 2025 That premium growth is among the fastest anywhere even if adsupported listening still dominates overall ldquoThe volume is already here The monetisation is not yet here but the directionality of the monetisation is correctrdquo Shankar says For global businesses thinking in decades that signal matters more than immediate yieldAmit Gurbaxani and Akhila ShankarThis explains why cracking India has become essential for international acts Entry strategies are increasingly deliberate visible in collaborations with Indian artistes remixes social media engagement tailored to Indian audiences and tightly planned touring runs The outward journey of Indian artistes exporting seamlessly beyond diaspora strongholds remains more uneven Gurbaxani points to Punjabi stars like Diljit Dosanjh and Karan Aujla whose songs have entered the Canadian Hot 100 often buoyed by diaspora audiences The question lingers if that is the true crossover or is demographic density translating into chart impactHanumankindrsquos Big Dawgs achieved global traction and translated into overseas touring opportunities Yet sustained multimarket chart dominance mdash the kind that rewrites the narrative of a nationrsquos music industry mdash has not fully materialisedInfrastructure complicates the picture at home ldquoThe ability to pay is not the problem at all But infrastructure is a bigger issuerdquo Shankar says Largecapacity venues are limited to a handful of spaces such as DY Patil Stadium Contrast that with South Korearsquos meticulously constructed Kpop ecosystem with synchronised management agencies and government backing Indiarsquos growth appears more organic than engineered That is not necessarily a weakness But it does mean the machinery is still assembling itself in real timeSo what hasnrsquot happened yet Certain global superstars still skip India on world tours A definitive sustained global breakout hit from India remains elusive Still the direction is unmistakable India has scale appetite and accelerating subscription momentum The leverage is catching upSource The Luminate 2025 YearEnd Music Report51TROndemand audio streams in 2025