Spotify sees regional Indian music surge as overseas royalties rise
Spotify’s India report says Haryanvi streams rose nearly sevenfold from February 2023 to February 2026, while more than 40% of Indian artists’ 2025 royalties came from overseas listeners. The platform plans to extend its RADAR artist programme to Malayalam.
What happened
Spotify’s India report shows rapid growth in regional-language music, especially Haryanvi and Telugu, alongside rising overseas royalty income for Indian
Key facts
- Haryanvi streams increased nearly sevenfold between February 2023 and February 2026
- Over 40% of Indian artists' 2025 royalties came from overseas listeners
- Telugu music royalties rose more than 120% year over year
- Marathi royalties rose nearly 50%
- Bengali royalties rose nearly 40%
- Malayalam royalties rose over 30%
- Hindi royalties rose nearly 30%
- Tamil royalties rose 20%
- Indian artists were streamed nearly 335 billion times
- Listeners consumed more than 20 billion hours of Indian music
- 90% of Spotify's Top 50 India tracks in 2025 were by Indian artists
- Local streams of Indian women artists rose 27% in 2025
Why this matters
Expanding RADAR to Malayalam creates opportunities for Spotify to deepen ties with regional labels, artist-management firms, and local media partners while securing differentiated vernacular content.
What to watch
- Monthly active users and listening hours for Haryanvi, Telugu and Malayalam catalog.
- Share of Indian artist royalties generated outside India, especially in the US, UK, Canada and Gulf markets.
- RADAR artist conversion into sustained streams, followers and repeat releases.
- New telecom, device-maker or payment-bundle partnerships that improve Indian premium conversion.
- Exclusive catalog deals or pricing moves by YouTube Music, JioSaavn, Apple Music and local platforms.
- Extend RADAR beyond Malayalam into Haryanvi and Telugu, pairing artist development with localized editorial playlists.
- Increase diaspora-focused programming, including regional-language global charts, festival campaigns and city-specific playlist promotion.
- Pursue label, film-music and independent-distributor partnerships to secure earlier access to fast-growing regional releases.
- Test advertiser packages targeted at regional-language listeners and overseas Indian audiences.
- Use regional listening data to support live-event, merchandise and fan-subscription partnerships for breakout artists.