Music streaming giant Spotify has taken down the entire catalogue owned by Zee Music Company, after an effort at renewing the licensing agreement between the two fell through.
Zee Music, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, is one of the largest Indian record labels. Following the licensing dispute, several of the company's most popular Bollywood albums including Fitoor, Udta Punjab, Dangal, Rock On 2, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Secret Superstar, Dhadak, October, Andhadhun, Kedarnath, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Gully Boy, Kesari, Kalank, Bhediya, etc. were removed from Spotify.
In a statement to DH, Spotify said, “Spotify and Zee Music have been unable to reach a licensing agreement. Throughout these negotiations, Spotify has tried to find creative ways to strike a deal with Zee Music, and will continue our good faith negotiations in hopes of finding a mutually agreeable solution soon.”
In what might be a concern for the music streaming giant, leading tracks such as Apna Bana Le, apparently the top track on Spotify India over the last two weeks, from the Hindi film Bhediya, are no longer available on the platform. This might lead to listeners jumping to alternative streamers.
Zee Music boasts a subscriber base of over 9.3 crore on YouTube, where its copyrighted music is still available to stream.
(Published 21 March 2023, 16:08 IST)
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