Spotify India's Music Head Says Artist-First Songs Now Lead Its Charts, As Artist Royalties Rose 29% In 2025
Spotify India's Dhruvank Vaidya says artist-first songs fill its top five, and the company's own report shows Rs 5 crore earners doubling since 2023.
"We believe that for the long-term growth and sustenance of the industry, the entire artist pyramid has to grow, right from the most emerging artists to the top most artists," Dhruvank Vaidya, head of music and podcast at Spotify India, told Moneycontrol in an interview published on Monday, 2 November.
Spotify uses "artist-first" for songs that artists release on their own, outside a film soundtrack. Vaidya said five of Spotify India's top 10 tracks in 2025 were of that kind, and that the top five in recent weeks were too. Our own look at the latest weekly India chart lists that top five.
What Spotify says artists earned
The numbers come from Spotify's India edition of its Loud & Clear report, published on 2 September. Royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify grew 29% in 2025, the company said, and every major Indian language contributed. The number of artists earning more than Rs 1 crore (10 million rupees) a year rose 21%, and those earning more than Rs 5 crore have doubled since 2023. Spotify did not publish rupee totals, Moneycontrol noted.
Language growth was uneven. Moneycontrol, reading the report, put Telugu royalties up more than 120%, Marathi nearly 50% and Bengali nearly 40%.
Spotify also said more than 40% of the royalties Indian artists earned in 2025 came from listeners outside India, and that 11 of the 15 most exported Indian songs were artist-first releases.
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The programmes behind it
Vaidya listed what Spotify runs for each rung. Fresh Finds playlists spotlight new independent artists, and Radar, its flagship programme for emerging musicians, added Malayalam this year after Punjabi and Tamil. I-Pop covers more established acts through playlists and live events, including the second I-Pop Icons Live in Mumbai in August with Anuv Jain, Harrdy Sandhu, Rashmeet Kaur, Paresh Pahuja and Taaruk Raina, according to Moneycontrol. Spotify also runs masterclasses on digital marketing, contracts and intellectual property. Our report on Fresh Finds Forward covers the support scheme for independent acts.
Paying listeners
Moneycontrol reported that fewer than 10% of Spotify's users in India are Premium subscribers, and quoted industry estimates of nearly 150 million monthly users. Spotify does not disclose country figures.
Premium Early Access started in India in August. Subscribers hear selected releases up to three days before everyone else, with Universal Music Group the first label partner and songs by Badshah and Harrdy Sandhu among the first. Spotify's push on the free tier is in our report on its third-quarter call, and the rest of the week's label and platform news is on Business.
(Source: Moneycontrol interview with Dhruvank Vaidya, 2 November 2026; Spotify Newsroom, India Loud & Clear report, 2 September 2026)
