Indian artists are seeing growth in streaming royalties across languages and markets, with independent and regional music accounting for a growing part of the country’s streaming economy.
Spotify’s Loud & Clear report for India shows that royalties generated by Indian artists on the platform grew 29% year on year in 2025. The number of artists generating more than INR 10 million annually increased by 21%, while the number earning more than INR 50 million has doubled since 2023.
International listeners continue to play a significant role in this growth. Indian artists were streamed nearly 335 billion times on Spotify in 2025, amounting to more than 20 billion hours of listening. More than 40% of the royalties earned by Indian artists came from listeners outside India.
Spotify presented the India findings at a Loud & Clear event, where Spotify India Head of Music & Podcast Dhruvank Vaidya joined artists Aditya Rikhari and Simran Choudhary for a panel moderated by Spotify Punjabi editor Mehak Chauhan Bhullar.
Independent artists find new routes to audiences
Independent music is gaining more visibility on streaming platforms, alongside the established role of Bollywood music.
Indian artists accounted for 90% of the tracks on Spotify’s Top 50: India playlist in 2025. I-Pop, referring to popular Indian music released outside Bollywood films, made up half of Spotify’s 2025 year-end top 10 in India. Tracks by Kushagra, Anuv Jain, Faheem Abdullah and Jasleen Royal appeared alongside film music.
Aditya Rikhari’s ‘Sahiba’ spent more than 11 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Spotify in India.
Independent releases are also reaching audiences outside the country. Eleven of the 15 most exported Indian songs on Spotify’s 2025 Global Impact List came from artists whose music was released outside film soundtracks.
Film music, meanwhile, continues to be an important route for independent artists to reach larger audiences. Simran Choudhary was among the independent artists featured on Dhurandhar, one of the biggest film albums of 2025.
Regional languages continue to grow
Streaming growth is also being seen across India’s regional languages.
Telugu recorded the biggest year-on-year increase in royalties generated globally, at more than 120%. Marathi royalties grew by nearly 50%, Bengali by nearly 40%, Malayalam by more than 30%, Hindi by nearly 30% and Tamil by 20%.
Haryanvi has also seen a sharp increase in listening. Streams for Haryanvi music grew nearly sevenfold between February 2023 and February 2026, making it one of the fastest-growing languages on Spotify.
Spotify has expanded its artist development efforts in regional markets as well. Its RADAR programme expanded to Malayalam in 2026, following its existing focus on Punjabi and Tamil.
Indian music continues to reach global audiences
More than 40% of the royalties generated by Indian artists on Spotify in 2025 came from listeners outside India.
Tamil music has been among the notable examples of this international reach. Anirudh Ravichander’s soundtrack for Coolie crossed 100 million Spotify streams within 10 days and was also featured on a billboard in New York’s Times Square.
Sai Abhyankkar and Sai Smriti’s Tamil single ‘Aasa Kooda’ reached 238 million streams, while Kerala-born rapper Hanumankind’s ‘Big Dawgs’ crossed 360 million streams and reached No. 1 on a Spotify global chart.
Spotify has also featured Punjabi music through its global RADAR playlist, with artists including Tegi Pannu and Watan Sahi.
Women artists are seeing growth across both domestic and international audiences. In 2025, local streams of Indian women artists grew 27% year on year, while international streams increased by 7%.
The figures point to a broader streaming market in India, with artists from different languages and independent music scenes finding audiences both within the country and overseas.
