The 26% Shift: India’s Music Business Is Moving Beyond the Stream

Cover photo: “Pensive Indian man browsing smartphone while listening to music” by Michael Burrows via Pexels, used under the Pexels License. The locally stored photograph is an illustrative listening image, not a depiction of a specific artist or platform.

India’s music economy is getting bigger, but the useful career signal is not only the stream count. The FICCI–EY 2026 media-and-entertainment report says the music sector grew 10% in 2025 while labels’ “other income”—including live events, branded content and talent management—grew 26%. These figures come from one sector report; they describe aggregate activity, not what any artist personally earned. That does not mean every musician should chase a brand deal. It means a song increasingly needs to create several kinds of professional work around itself. FICCI–EY, Stories, scale and impact

For an independent musician, manager, producer or visual collaborator, that is a more honest picture than “stream until it pays.” A release can create listening, then a live set, a commission, a brand conversation, a sync brief, a credit trail or a recurring collaboration. The task is to make those routes real and fairly agreed—not to pretend that every play becomes a job.

Key takeaways

• In 2025, India’s music sector grew 10%, but digital licensing grew only 2%, according to the FICCI–EY report. A larger audience is not automatically a larger direct streaming cheque. FICCI–EY
• Labels’ other income rose 26%, driven by live events, branded content and talent management. That is an industry signal, not a promise of income to any individual artist. FICCI–EY
• The practical response is a clear body of work: releases, credits, live evidence, rights records and professional relationships that can support more than one revenue path.
• Keep a stream count in proportion. It can prove attention; it cannot define a fee, split or career by itself.

One song, six credits: the credit map behind an independent release

India’s music business revenue grew—but not in one direction

In 2025, the FICCI–EY report recorded 10% growth for India’s music sector. Within that result, digital licensing increased only 2%, while music labels’ other income increased 26%, which EY attributes to events, branded content and talent management. The point is not that streaming has stopped mattering; it is that a music business can no longer be read from one platform dashboard. FICCI–EY, Stories, scale and impact

That distinction changes the questions a team should ask after a release. Not “did it go viral?” but: who heard it, where are they, what did the release prove, and what can the artist responsibly offer next? A great song can remain a great song without becoming a touring campaign. But if a project has momentum, a prepared team can make a considered choice rather than wait for an algorithm to decide its future.

The 26% number is most useful as a warning against false comparisons. It describes labels’ other income in aggregate. It does not mean an emerging artist should accept vague “exposure” work in the hope of joining that growth. A legitimate opportunity still needs a defined role, budget or fee, ownership terms and a credible partner.

Streaming is a discovery layer, not a complete business model

FICCI–EY reported that paid music subscriptions grew 37% to 14.4 million in 2025, while EY–IMI later estimated roughly 14 million paid subscriptions for that year. Those figures point to growing paid listening, but they also show how early the subscription market remains beside India’s much larger listening population. FICCI–EY, EY–IMI, How India listens, streams and pays for music

That is why streams should be treated as evidence before they are treated as earnings. They can reveal cities, repeat listeners, songs that hold attention and collaborators who deserve visibility. What they cannot reveal by themselves is the artist’s master share, the songwriter’s publishing position, a show’s ticket potential or whether a client has a budget. For the separate question of what India-heavy Spotify plays may return to a master owner, read our Spotify streams payout explainer.

If the song is doing its job, the next material should make the work easy to understand: a short live performance, a proper press page, accurate credits, a usable technical brief and one contact who can answer professionally. Our music EPK guide is about that practical hand-off from a release to a booking or media conversation.

Live, branded and management work need different safeguards

In 2025, the organised live-events segment grew 44%, and EY estimated there were more than 130 concert days with daily audiences above 10,000. Those numbers explain why event income sits inside the wider music-business story, but neither measure tells an artist what a particular venue, promoter or festival will pay. FICCI–EY, Stories, scale and impact

The report’s 44% live-events growth and 26% rise in labels’ non-licensing income point in the same direction: recorded music can trigger work beyond a platform. The figures do not tell us who captured that value, so an artist should turn interest into a specific, written offer before counting it as revenue. FICCI–EY, Stories, scale and impact

The same caution applies to branded content and talent management. A brand partnership is not automatically an artist partnership; a manager’s interest is not an agreement; and a touring offer is not complete until its production and settlement details are clear. The different routes need different paperwork:

• A live booking needs the performance date, set length, travel, production provision, payment timing and cancellation terms.
• A brand use needs the exact deliverables, platforms, term, territory, approvals and payment.
• A management relationship needs scope, commission, term, exclusivity and how either party can end it.

Our band agreement guide and technical rider and stage plot guide are useful places to start before a promising offer becomes an expensive misunderstanding.

There is a quiet advantage for crew members here. When music activity turns into a show, campaign or visual, the photographer, playback engineer, lighting operator, editor and producer become part of the economic record too. Their credits, scope and payment terms deserve the same care as the performer’s name on the poster.

What an artist can build around one release

India’s 2025 data supports a simple conclusion: one song can be a starting point for several types of work, but only if the artist team makes the proof usable. The FICCI–EY report also found that independent, non-film music made up 43% of streams in 2025, a reminder that artist-led catalogues are increasingly central to listening—not merely a side lane to film releases. FICCI–EY, Stories, scale and impact

Think of a release as a small professional archive. It should leave behind:

1. A rights record. Confirm the master owner, writers, composers, performers and split sheet before money arrives.
2. A credit record. List every meaningful contributor accurately, and ask collaborators to confirm their part of the work.
3. A live record. Keep a clean clip, a set description and a realistic technical requirement. It helps a promoter see the actual show.
4. A context record. Keep a short bio, one paragraph on the song, press-ready images and a useful contact.
5. A relationship record. Note the people who delivered: producer, studio, visual team, manager, promoter and crew. They are often the route to the next serious project.

This is not a demand to make every release a startup. It is a way to stop the work disappearing once the release-week posts slow down. Kredl is built around that premise: collaborators can show real work and confirm the credits that connect them.

A release is stronger when the people who made it can show the work and confirm the credit. Build that professional record on Kredl.

A healthier scorecard than follower count

The 10% music-sector growth and 26% rise in labels’ other income are signals about the industry, not instructions for a career. The right scorecard depends on the artist’s stage: a first release may need three genuine listeners who return; a working band may need one reliable promoter; a producer may need a credit trail that makes their next commission believable. FICCI–EY, Stories, scale and impact

Still, a few questions travel across every stage:

• Did the release reach listeners who may return?
• Are the contributor credits and rights splits clear?
• Is there an honest next offer: a show, session, commission, collaboration or catalogue follow-up?
• Can a future partner see real evidence of the team’s work without relying on a follower number?

That is the shift worth noticing. In a growing but uneven music economy, attention is valuable. Professional readiness decides whether attention can become repeat work.

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast did India’s music sector grow in 2025?

FICCI–EY reported 10% revenue growth for India’s music sector in 2025. That is a sector-wide measure, not an average artist income figure. It includes different kinds of music business activity, so no performer should use it to infer a personal royalty rate, show fee or management value. FICCI–EY

What does the 26% rise in labels’ other income mean?

EY says labels’ other income rose 26% in 2025 through events, branded content and talent management. It indicates that those areas became more important to label revenue. It does not guarantee a deal, job or fee for an individual artist, producer or crew member. FICCI–EY

Did paid music subscriptions grow in India?

Yes. FICCI–EY reported paid music subscriptions increased 37% to 14.4 million in 2025. EY–IMI’s 2026 streaming report describes roughly 14 million paid subscriptions that year. Both figures show progress, while leaving a large gap between widespread listening and paid listening. EY–IMI

Should an artist accept any brand or management offer?

No. The category’s growth does not replace due diligence. Ask what the work is, who owns the result, what is being paid, where it can appear, how long it can be used and how the agreement ends. If the essentials are vague, the opportunity is not yet ready to accept.

Sources, methodology and image credits

This is an analysis of reported industry-level change. It does not estimate individual artist earnings or promise work. “Other income” is the FICCI–EY report’s category for label revenue associated with events, branded content and talent management; it should not be read as a personal-income distribution.

• EY India and FICCI, Stories, scale and impact: Unlocking India’s media and entertainment economy, published 24 March 2026, retrieved 2026-11-10.
• EY India and IMI, How India listens, streams and pays for music, published 4 August 2026, retrieved 2026-11-10.
• Cover image: “Pensive Indian man browsing smartphone while listening to music” by Michael Burrows, via Pexels, under the Pexels License, retrieved 2026-11-10. The local version is illustrative and resized for delivery.