iLeher » State of online audio streaming Catching the Internet Wave in India

State of online audio streaming

Written by: Madhur

On Feb 7th, 2007

DesiHits recently made waves by raising first round of funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson ventures. Goes to demonstrate the potential that the online audio/video streaming has and yet I didn’t know of too many serious players that are hugely popular yet. Of course there are old players Raaga and MusicIndiaOnline which have been around for quite some time and have a considerable user base and traffic, but they just seem to be too busy making money off of those popups and banner ads and audio ads. There’s been hardly any innovation (not even in the look ‘n feel!) in these sites. So I went hunting for the new generation of players that are trying to make their mark in this space and here are the findings. As you would expect, I could find sites not only in the category of streaming bollywood music, but also sites that provide cool ways of finding and discovering new music. I am only covering audio sites here - video would be a whole new post.

Streaming music: Dhingana is a new generation online music streaming site. Basic concept is same as Raaga, but has much better quality of songs and provides enhanced functionalities for searching and sharing.

Music search: Sangeetix leverages the already existing music files and podcasts on the Internet by indexing them and provides the users the capability to search all those files.

New music discovery: Radioverve, JhankarBeats help you find the works of upcoming musicians and artists. Consistent with the Web2.0 trend, there’s also a social networking portal centered around audio/video sharing called SaffronConnect.

Podcasts: This phenomenon is catching up very fast in India. The list of players is increasing everyday, some of the major ones being Podtech India (tech podcasts), Indicast (general news), PodMasti (bollywood talk), Podbazaar (news and entertainment), Kamla Bhatt show (life, people, ideas), etc. Here is a review of some of these podcasting sites.

Conclusion: There’s quite a few upcoming players covering a variety of activities around online streaming music. The good thing going for these players is that even though the brandband penetration is still very low, the NRI market is quite large. So if they consistently provide good service and keep innovating, at least some of them can make it big, when broadband hits the critical mass in India. One service that I would have loved, but couldn’t find was to listen to some of the local FM radio channels like RadioMirchi, RadioCity etc. on the Internet. Seems like Indiatimes would be a logical site that could provide this? Also on a side note, Rediff closed their Internet radio station that it used to have a while back. Wonder what could be the reason for that?

Sphere: Related Content

Entry Filed under: desihits, dhingana, indicast, online radio, online streaming music, podbazaar, podcast, podmasti, podtech, radioverve, sangeetix

13 Responses Add your own

1. Sushil said on February 7th, 2007 at 6:26 pm

Really good point Madhur. As you mentioned, there is a lot of scope of innovation in this field. One one sites like Dhingana.com and Sangeetix are bringing in better services for users, old players seem to be enjoying their lead. It will be interesting to see how far this continues and wheather innovation can really beat orthodox ways of listening to music
2. Ray said on February 8th, 2007 at 2:39 am

Madhur, I like the way you have come up with this article. Nice job! I was checking out the music sites you pointed out here, speciall dhingana.com. Its great! You mentioned that its based on the same cocept as Raga.com. I dont agree with you on this one. Dhingaan.com does not only provide great quality music, but also great community features like tagging, sending mgreetings, smartlist etc. Its following a different approach all together. What says?
3. Madhur said on February 8th, 2007 at 8:38 am

Ray, what I meant by basic concept being same was the fact that dhingana.com just like Raga is a site where you go for listening to streaming music. Agree with you on all the nice functionalities, which I put concisely by mentioning “enhanced functionalities for searching and sharing”

Thanks for sharing your thoughts though and please feel free to describe your experience in details at Dhingana (or any other site) to share with other readers.
4. vijay said on February 8th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

quite a neat writeup here, keep blogging
5. Gaurav said on February 10th, 2007 at 3:28 am

Hey Madhur!

Thanks for mentioning RadioVeRVe! We started off as a part time hobby that has now grown into a ‘more than just part time’ hobby … we are adding a whole plethora of things on RadioVeRVe and we will reveal them all in time … do keep a lookout and let us know what you think!

-Gaurav
(RadioVeRVe)
6. Kamla Bhatt said on February 10th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

Nice article Madhur.

I appreciate including my show in your list.

Thanks,

kamla
7. Roj said on April 7th, 2007 at 11:35 pm

sangeetix seems to be down at this point. anybody else experiencing the same thing?
8. vslog said on April 11th, 2007 at 2:53 am

Anyone know how the licensing on this works? Is there a consolidated source from where these companies get their music from? Or do you have to strike individual deals with each music house?
9. iLeher » Widget Marketing: Can Dhingana pull it off? Catching the Internet Wave in India said on April 17th, 2007 at 8:07 am

[...] Dhingana is one site to watch out for in online Indian music streaming space. We mentioned briefly about them here. The current incumbents Raaga and MusicIndiaOnline (both among most visited Indian sites) hardly seem to be doing any innovation at all. Dhingana is a refreshing change in this space and with their simple interface and rich features that promote stickiness and viral spread, I think they are moving in the right direction. Although a word of suggestion for them is it would be nice to avoid displaying those bright flash ads smack in the middle of the page that according to me hurts the otherwise nice user experience that they provide. [...]
10. krish said on April 19th, 2007 at 5:15 am

For Hyderabad FM Radio here is the URL: http://www.voicevibes.net
11. Leni Stuppert said on April 30th, 2007 at 4:56 pm

I believe this indian classical music page will be interesting for youBiswabrata Chakrabarti
12. Raj said on July 18th, 2007 at 11:31 pm

Nice article, but you missed desitouch.com, check it out and let me know what you guys make of it. For me, it’s definitely in a league of its own.
13. Amit Khanna said on September 11th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

Can anyone provide information on how the licensing on this works?

I believe this question has already been asked before. I would appreciate if someone can provide information about this.

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