One of the challenges for freelancing independent music artists is how to monetise their works consistently. Perhaps this is where Wynk Studio can be of use. Launched by Bharti Airtel's Wynk Music, which is among the top music streaming apps in India, the studio hopes to be the largest music distribution ecosystem for independent artists based in India and overseas.
It will enable artists to launch their music and will also partner them in monetising their music on a host of platforms and will be a part of Airtel’s digital products portfolio which includes Wynk, Airtel Xstream, Airtel Ads, Airtel IQ, among others.
How Wynk Studio will help an artist
Independent artists are expected to be the lynchpin of the music industry in the years to come. Indians on average spend about 21 hours per week listening to music as against a global average of 18 hours. According to a study, almost 30% of the top performing songs across any music platform in India are today from independent artists. and their contribution is expected to drive up the industry by 50% from roughly Rs 2000 crore at the moment to Rs 3000 crore by 2025.
In a statement, Wynk Studio said it plans to launch 5000 independent artists on the platform in the next year. "This will bring forward unknown talent stymied by music industry’s three most pressing problems - Discovery, Monetization and Analytics, which together determine the difference between success and failure in the Indian music industry," the company said in its statement.
It said the company will help an artist on three fronts: Discovery, monetisation and data analytics.
Once Wynk Studio launches an artist's music on the Wynk music app and also other music platforms, listeners can save, download and even follow the artist on the Wynk app. The studio will also "help emerging artists to achieve record streams in competitive timelines through the support of Airtel’s strong distribution capabilities." Further, using Airtel’s data science capabilities, artists can create commercially viable music.
Wynk said it has earmarked Rs 100 crore to promote local talent on the application and enable their discovery. Wynk Studio already has over 100 artists on the platform from India, Singapore and the United States. It also gave the examples of some artists hand-picked by it.
Adarsh Nair, CEO, Airtel Digital, "the creator economy for music is at a nascent stage but poised to grow significantly. With Wynk Studio, we are building a platform that allows an aspiring musician to pursue their passion and earn income at the same time."
Wynk offers music in 15 Indian languages and regional songs now account for over 30% of the overall streams on the app.
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