Danish Khan
Bharti Airtel will be shutting down its streaming music service – Wynk Music – ten years after launch, and absorb all its employees in the Airtel ecosystem, a company spokesperson told Moneycontrol on August 27.
“We can confirm that we will sunset Wynk Music and all Wynk music employees will be absorbed within the Airtel ecosystem,” the spokesperson said, soon after Bharti Airtel announced a tie up with Apple Inc to bring exclusive offers for OTT video and music streaming services, Apple TV+ and Apple Music for Indian users.
“Airtel users will have access to Apple Music. Additionally, Wynk Premium users will receive exclusive offers from Airtel for Apple Music,” Bharti Airtel spokesperson said in a statement to Moneycontrol.
Streaming service Wynk Music was launched in 2014 and allows users to download music for offline listening, set caller tunes, listen to podcasts, and stream music in multiple regional languages, among other features.
Airtel announced on August 27 that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Apple to bring exclusive offers for its OTT video and music streaming services, Apple TV+ and Apple Music, in India. The partnership will allow Airtel Xstream customers to access content from Apple TV+ with premium Airtel WiFi and Postpaid plans. Airtel said the addition of Apple TV+ would sweeten the Airtel Xstream fibre offering.
These Apple Music and Apple TV+ offers will be available exclusively to Airtel customers in India later this year.
Sources said that Airtel decided to shut down Wynk’s service because it did not make commercial sense to continue running it without a clear monetisation plan. “In India, music streaming monetization is already low. Secondly, Airtel wanted to offer a better service in the music streaming space. Apple is an established player in the global music streaming space,” a person familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol.
The person said that not just Airtel, the partnership will also help Apple acquire quality subscribers through this strategic partnership. “Under the deal, Airtel will offer Apple Music subscription at a much better and discounted rate than Apple’s pricing. Such plans will remain exclusive to Airtel customers and unavailable through any other telco.”
The person added that Apple and Airtel are working on a carrier billing alliance as part of the partnership, which will help Apple monetize its OTT and music streaming services.
In 2023, music streaming apps had a base of approximately 185 million active users. However, only around 7.5 million paid for a subscription, representing just 4 percent, according to an EY-FICCI report released in March 2024.
The EY-FICCI report suggests converting to paid subscribers will be challenging because of numerous free options on major streaming platforms, all music accessible on YouTube, and FM radio in cars and mobile phones. This raises concerns about the low profitability of audio streaming platforms, which may lead to consolidation or platform shutdowns in the medium term.
Airtel had previously discussed acquiring and merging Wynk with Times Internet and Tencent-backed Gaana, but the talks fizzled. Later, Gaana was acquired by Times Group’s subsidiary Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) in December 2023 for Rs 25 lakh.