Bharti Airtel will shut down its music streaming app Wynk Music and transition its users to Apple Music, India’s second largest telecom services provider told Mint.
“We can confirm that we will sunset Wynk Music. Airtel users will have access to Apple Music. Additionally, Wynk Premium users will receive exclusive offers from Airtel for Apple Music,” an Airtel spokesperson said in response to queries on Tuesday. All Wynk music employees will be absorbed within the Airtel ecosystem, the carrier added.
The move would entail transitioning millions of users from Wynk to Apple Music, which will make the US-based music streaming service a larger competition to its rivals Spotify, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and others. In India, Swedish music streaming service Spotify led with a 26% share of all streams, as per a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants as of March 2023.
Wynk Music had crossed 100 million downloads on Google’s Play Store.
Music streaming has an audience of approximately 185 million in India, but only around 7.5 million paid for a subscription, according to a Ficci-EY 2024 report on the entertainment industry.
Decision follows Bharti Airtel-Apple Inc partnership
The decision to shut down Wynk follows a strategic partnership between Bharti Airtel and Apple Inc, where Airtel users will be able to access AppleTV+ and Apple Music through premium wi-fi and postpaid plans in the coming months. People aware of the development said that the partnership will also onboard Airtel prepaid customers overtime, even as they begin with postpaid and wifi or fiber broadband users.
“Airtel offers a one stop shop to bring all content and entertainment through Airtel Xstream,” Amit Tripathi, chief marketing officer and executive vice president customer experience for Bharti Airtel, said on the announcement. “This partnership with Apple will provide immense value to our customers since they will now have access to the best content and entertainment globally.”
Large screen video content viewership is growing at a fast pace in India, and there is an appetite for high-quality video content among Indian users. Apple TV+ is currently available to iPhone, iPad and Mac users for free, while Android users have to subscribe to the service. Apple TV+ is not available on Android smartphones yet but users can watch it on their phones through web browser. The app is also available on Android-powered smart TVs, streaming sticks and gaming devices.
“We are thrilled that Airtel customers in India will soon be able to enjoy all of the incredible content on Apple TV+ and Apple Music,” said Oliver Schusser, vice president of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Sports, and Beats. “With our ever growing catalog of world-class films, television shows and music to choose from we know there will be something for everyone.”
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