Spotify’s launch in India’s listening market has proceeded with good news this year, but has reportedly hit a stumbling point in its negotiation with Saregama, India’s oldest record label.
Saregama owns a catalog of 120,000 songs, and reached a preliminary licensing agreement with Spotify earlier this year. But that arrangement was not finalized, and now an injunction from the label has cause Spotify to agree to remove the catalog from its service.
The misstep follows a disagreement with Warner/Chappell. According to Music Business Worldwide, Spotify attempted to include Warner’s music via a statutory license (instead of direct agreement). That argument is ongoing.
Spotify launched its India service in February, and reached one-million users the next month.