Reliance Jio has finally unveiled its rechristened music streaming platform called JioSaavn, which is basically the merged entity of Jio Music and Saavn. The partnership which is valued at almost $1 billion, sees Saavn’s content arrive on Jio’s platform.
Jio Music was currently sourcing content from all the major Indian and international labels, with over 16 million HD songs across 20 languages. Saavn, on the other hand, had rights to over 36 million music tracks.
The Indian music market is being dominated by Gaana, but Jio Music’s integration with Saavn gives Reliance Jio the edge now. You’ve also got Amazon’s Prime Music in the mix, with Spotify expected to join the ranks in the coming months.
Jio Music currently allows users to stream songs at a high bit rate (according to the user’s connectivity), and also gives them an option to download the song for free.
Integration of Jio Music with Saavn ensures that over 252 million users on Jio’s network can choose between streaming for free or go for the premium model that offers ad-free music.
“With the integrated JioSaavn app, users can expect a suite of new in-app products and music experiences, including an interactive lyrics feature, localised vernacular display, custom integrations with concerts and live events, as well as exclusive video content to roll out over the next few months.”Reliance
The company has also clarified that Jio users will not only able to pick and choose curated content from the new platform but also get 90-day free trial of JioSaavn Pro, after which they can either pay to stream or continue with the free model.
It’ll be interesting to see if Jio’s business clout enables JioSaavn to go head-to-head with other local player like Gaana from Times Internet, which also caters to users with free and premium models for streaming. JioSaavn, according to the company will also work on its affordable 4G device JioPhone and JioPhone 2 available via the Jio Store.
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