New music releases reign supreme on Moj

One of each year’s landmark studies on Media and Entertainment (M&E) remains the FICCI Report, published in conjunction with consulting firm Ernst & Young (“EY”).

For instance, a report published in early 2022 threw up the below data, which has been updated with inputs from Moj, India’s largest short video app that launched in July 2020, having close to 300 million monthly active users now and, in turn, witnessing three million content uploads garnering close to six billion views daily.

► The Indian music segment grew by 24% to reach INR 18.7 billion in 2021.

► Indian consumers spent an average of 21.9 hours each week listening to music, which is higher than the global average of 18.4 hours/week.

► Out of the above, average weekly music consumption on streaming services was 10.4 hours, compared to 9.7 in 2019.

► 90% of the revenues were earned through digital means, though most of it was advertising led.

► Bollywood remained the no.1 listening choice, aggregated 38% of total consumption in the EY study whereas, on Moj, film music held a share of 55%.

► Regional music gained share with 20% of all music that trended on Moj; the biggest ones being: “Bullet” (Telugu), “Gypsy” (Haryanvi), and “Ra Ra Rakkama” (Kannada), leading to a flurry of deals for acquiring regional labels.

► YouTube accounted for 28% of labels’ digital revenues, and 50% of all music consumption, and remained the no.1 platform of choice for consuming music in India.

► About 45% of trending music on Moj was non-film, out of which almost 40% were new releases, the most popular being ‘Think About You’, ‘Gypsy’, ‘Dhokha’, ‘Kuch Baatein’, ‘Pagla Pagli 3’, ‘Dhoke Pyaar Ke’, ‘Tumsa Koi Pyaara’, and ‘Baarish Ki Jaaye’.

Regional consumption trends are expected to continue in 2023, announced Moj, with micro-influencers and content in regional languages expected to become the next big thing on the platform, which can be mapped with the FICCI-EY study which, combined, can be considered as below –

► On streaming platforms, regional music share increased to around 40% of the total consumption.

► While Punjabi and southern languages were most prominent, growth was also witnessed in various key languages including Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Assamese.

► Around 70% of music consumed was less than 18 months old.

► Several new platforms of significance emerged and have seen music consumption of scale, which include Moj, Roposo, Glance, Chingari, Instagram, and Josh.

► Non-film music – particularly in regional languages – will keep increasing, driven by artist and song discovery on short video and social media platforms.

► The total music segment is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% to reach INR 28.1 billion by 2024.