Last month Gaana overhauled their mobile App on Android to introduce features like 320 kbps downloads and offline listening with Gaana Plus. Another competing app, Dhingana, has now taken the same route and is offering similar features like Unlimited HD quality Song Downloads and offline listening via Dhingana Gold.
However, these features are not free – the features mentioned above are premium features and can be availed by users by paying monthly fixed fee.
Dhingana Gold has priced their offering at USD 1.99 with a 15-day free trial as compared to USD 2.99 pricing for Gaana plus (for Indian users)
The question is – Will these apps be successful with their premium subscription based music download model?
Gaana and Dhingana both started off as free Bollywood / Hindi / regional music streaming apps, where users could search their favorite songs and stream them live with help of a data internet connection. For both of them the only revenue stream was through in-app advertisements.
In a short span of time, both these music apps have now launched their premium versions with near identical feature set.
If you look at track record of subscription based multimedia content offering in India, whether on the web or on mobile, the track record is not all that great. Even Flipkart failed with their subscription based Flyte music platform and had to shut it down for lack of takers.
But, with Gaana and Dhingana, the situation is slightly different, which I think may make them successful and I will explain why.
Will Fixed Subscription Based Model Work?
First off, they are not standalone subscription-only based platform. Their free services, which are already quite popular, will remain. The premium features add value over and on top of that.
Secondly, and probably the most important, they are on mobile devices which is go-to device for majority of users to listen to music. For a paid user it is very simple, download and listen on the same device.
Thirdly, for a small fee of around Rs. 150 to Rs. 200 per month, they are able to download and play unlimited amount music and songs and highest HD (320 kbps) quality.
Infact, in reality the users may end up saving that kind of money on their data charges on music streaming. As they can simply download all music they want through wi-fi and they play when-ever and wherever!
However, there is one aspect that users need to understand. They will be able to access music offline only till the time you are subscribed to the service and downloaded music can be heard only via the app through which you downloaded (that’s what I guess).
In my view, the music download feature for a small fixed fee is definitely something that many music lovers will go for.
