eNews
Hungama Music pulls plug, India’s streaming scene shrinks
MUMBAI: Another one bites the dust in India’s cut-throat music streaming scene. Hungama Music is throwing in the towel, announcing its service will be switched off from 15 April, leaving users’ downloaded tunes and libraries gathering digital dust. This follows the premature demise of Resso and Wynk Music, making it a proper hat-trick of Indian streaming services hitting the skids in just over a year.
“Downloaded music and library content will no longer be available,” Hungama Music informed its users.
Resso, owned by ByteDance, blamed “local market conditions” for its January 2024 exit, while Wynk Music, owned by Bharti Airtel, effectively rolled its users into Apple Music after a strategic partnership.
Despite India’s booming streaming appetite – second only to the US in terms of sheer volume – local players are finding it a right pickle to compete with the global giants. YouTube, with its 462 million users, remains the undisputed king, while Spotify’s global clout and Apple Music’s strategic tie-ups are proving too much for many to handle.
Hungama Music, which ditched its freemium model for a subscription-only approach last year, clearly couldn’t keep up. Even a recent partnership with Virgin Music Group, aimed at boosting Indian regional music, wasn’t enough to save it from the digital graveyard.
“It’s a proper David versus Goliath situation,” a source close to the Indian music scene quipped. “These global behemoths have the cash and the clout to snap up users, leaving local players struggling to get a look-in.”
With only Gaana and JioSaavn left standing, the question now is whether they can survive the onslaught. Can they whip up subscription packages that are both tempting and wallet-friendly enough to keep punters from straying? Or will they too end up singing the blues? One thing is for certain, the Indian music streaming scene is proving to be a proper dogfight.
eNews
Paisabazaar launches Credit Premier League 2.0
Nationwide campaign rewards highest credit scores with Rs 1 lakh top prize.
MUMBAI: When credit scores become a national league, even your CIBIL report starts feeling like it’s playing in the IPL and Paisabazaar has just kicked off the second season. Paisabazaar, India’s leading marketplace for financial products and the country’s largest free credit score platform, has announced the return of the Credit Premier League (CPL) 2.0, a fun, nationwide initiative to recognise and reward individuals with the highest credit scores.
Building on the success of the first edition, CPL 2.0 introduces higher rewards and broader participation. The individual(s) with the highest credit score in the country will win Rs 1 lakh, while state champions will each receive Rs 10,000. Additionally, all participants from the winning state, the one with the highest average credit score will also be rewarded.
All winnings will be credited directly to winners’ PB Wallet, allowing them to pay credit card bills, recharge mobiles, or settle utility bills seamlessly on the Paisabazaar platform.
Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal said the campaign aims to make credit awareness more engaging and mainstream. “With CPL, we are bringing together engagement, gamification and rewards to make conversations around credit scores more mainstream,” he noted. “Our focus remains on building a financially aware and credit-healthy Bharat.”
The first edition of CPL saw over 5.5 million participants, with the highest individual score touching 861. Delhi recorded the highest average credit score of 746.
Consumers can participate simply by checking their free credit score on the Paisabazaar platform or app. The CPL leaderboard and rankings will be available exclusively on the Paisabazaar App.
In a country where financial dreams are serious business, Paisabazaar has found a smart way to turn credit scores into an exciting game – because when your financial health gets rewarded, everyone wants to play.
