Online music in India continued to be dominated by Bollywood music in 2014. However, many services are offering offline modes in a bid to get more revenue and keeping in mind that YouTube will be offering similar services soon. We look at some of the trends that we've noticed. Trends and developments in 2014 - Telecom operators get into the online music streaming business: Bharti Airtel, the countrys largest telecom operator, this year launched Wynk, an Internet based music streaming service which allows streaming of a maximum of 500 songs for Rs 129 per month without data charges. We were impressed with Wynk because it lacked the typical product myopia associated with telecom operators in the past, which restrict streaming to its own network, with the intent of monetizing usage by the kb or minute. We have some doubts that the service might be in violation of Google Play and Apple Store's policies. More on that here. Prior to this, Vodafone had also started a music service. This puts telecom operators in an enviable situation of competing with online music streaming companies, while still controlling the access to these services. Net neutrality will be critical for ensuring that there isn't unfair competition from telecom operators. They already have data bundling, which is something that their competitors can't do. - Offline modes and videos: Hungama, Saavn and Gaana have started pushing their offline and video modes for their services. This is mostly done on their paid premium services. For example, Saavn…
