<div>The shift in consumer preference towards digital delivery platforms and proliferation of smartphones have helped the digital music industry evolve in India. According to the latest Ficci 2013 report, growth in music consumption (both online and mobile) is expected to drive the music industry to revenues of over Rs 2,000 crore by 2017. Emerging technologies have had a significant impact on the way music is produced, distributed and consumed. <strong>Siddhartha Roy, COO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment</strong>, speaks to <strong>Businessworld Online’s</strong> <strong>Tanuja Chatterjee</strong> about the global launch of its next generation music app and Hungama’s future plans.<br /><br /><strong>How do you see the transition in the online streaming industry in terms of size and platform?</strong><br />India is one of the rare markets which will see transition from 3G to 4G in a relatively short period of time. Internet connections are expected to reach 443 million by 2016 and youth will continue to drive internet usage through the mobile medium. With cheaper devices, increased penetration of smartphones, internet and social media, there will be a rise in data consumption. Given this, music streaming will continue to grow exponentially. With our insights, we have seen that owning content continues to be an inherent need for the consumer.<br /><br /><strong>How do you view your latest music app with respect to the existing players in the market? How will you define your new music app that streams video as well?</strong><br />The Hungama music app offers music and video streaming within the app, incorporated unique mood-based music discovery and world's only music app integrated with loyalty and rewards. <br /><br />It offers a seamless audio video experience, where a customer can make a choice to consume music across audio or video. This is essentially based on the insight that the Indian consumer not only listens to music but also watches music. <br /><br />There are times when the user wants to listen to music based on his mood. Hence, the app has a rich Mood Discovery feature that finds and plays music to match the user's mood. This feature allows users to discover music based on their preferences - Mood, Tempo, Language, Genre or Era. <br /><br />And finally, the biggest game changer is our loyalty programme. We are the first music app that rewards the consumer for his every action on the app. With this feature, users can earn points every time they watch videos, play/share music, invite friends or create playlists. <br /><br /><strong>Do you think the app would be accepted by your customers and simultaneously stand out from the crowd?</strong><br />Over the last 8 weeks, the app has received phenomenal response. Within four weeks of its successful debut, the app crossed 1 million downloads and is topping charts across all store fronts. The app is available on iOS, Android and a lite version on BBZ10. Ranked #1 in the top music apps category on iOS and Android platforms within just ten days of its launch; this ultimate music streaming app remains top trending app since its launch. Consumers had also rated the Hungama music app and given it a 4.5 star rating on the app store. The android version of the app is also trending worldwide with a 4.4 star rating.<br /><br /><strong>How do you plan to monetise this app?</strong><br />The Hungama.com business has always been and will remain a transaction driven business. The Hungama app is the first app that launched with premium billing available. There are principally two kinds of subscriptions that we have built. On the iOS it is an in-app subscription where we open an ad free video streaming environment to the users. The customer pays Rs 110 on a monthly basis, and can access the entire library of ad free music and videos for streaming. In the android space, because we have the entire micro charging opportunity in India with our billing integrations with all major telcos, we have integrated the download option. Consumer can own a piece of content by way of in-app transaction. The app is another touch point for the consumer to enjoy his music anytime, anywhere.<br /><br /><strong>Hungama recently forayed into Middle East market. How has been the response so far?</strong><br />Hungama Movies was officially launched in the Middle East during the Gitex Technology Week 2012. This expansion of our movies product offering was to address the demand for Bollywood and Indian content by South Asian diaspora residing in the Middle East region. The response from this region has been impressive with more than 10,000 subscribers registered already.<br /><br /><strong>What are the other initiatives lined up by Hungama? Please share your future plans?</strong><br />With regards to the music application, we will be rolling out adaptive streaming, Windows app and continue to build the product. We are also launching a new product BUZZTOP - an exclusive content distribution platform which is a captive media space for the 2nd and 3rd Generation Laptops powered by Intel.<br /><br /><strong>Could you brief a bit about your revenue model?</strong><br />Hungama has a download and streaming model. We have single downloads of songs for as less as Rs 10 and subscription based &package model for content that allows fixed or unlimited downloads. All our products have been built on the 'download to own' model which ensures a sustained digital content ecosystem offering return on investment for artists and record labels alike.<br /><br /><br /> </div>
