Universal Music group borrows its China playbook for a new India bet

Universal Music Group is about to test a strategy in India that it first tried out in China nearly six years ago, and the results of that experiment could shape how new music reaches listeners across the country’s streaming platforms.

Starting at the end of August, all new releases from major domestic and international artists on UMG’s roster will be held back from free, ad-supported tiers on both global and regional streaming platforms operating in India. Instead, these releases will be available only to paying subscribers for the first 72 hours, before opening up to ad-supported listeners as well. The move applies across the platforms UMG works with in the country and covers new music broadly, not select releases.

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, announced the change during the company’s earnings call on Thursday, July 30, framing it as part of a broader push to build what he called healthier music markets in China and India — the world’s two most populous countries. Grainge said both markets share deep pools of creative talent and widespread smartphone adoption, making them central to UMG’s long-term growth strategy.

The India move mirrors an approach UMG first used in China in 2019, when it worked with major Chinese streaming services to place both domestic and international music behind a paywall at the time of release. Grainge said that strategy had drawn scepticism at the time, with many expecting it to hurt music consumption and slow the market’s growth, but that the results ran counter to those predictions.

By 2025, China had overtaken Germany to become the world’s fourth-largest recorded music market, with UMG reporting recorded music revenue growth of more than 20% year-over-year in the country, driven largely by premium subscriptions and superfan experiences — a trend independently tracked by IFPI, which put China’s growth at 20.1%, the fastest among its global Top 20 markets. China is now the world’s second-largest digital music market after the United States, per Grainge.

UMG has operated in India since 1999 and has built a multi-label structure spanning different genres and languages in the market, alongside investments in artist management, live entertainment, film, television, and regional repertoire. In January, Universal Music India acquired a 30% stake in Bollywood production house Excel Entertainment, in a deal valuing the company at roughly $267 million. In March, it formed an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the label founded by singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander.

On LinkedIn, Viral Jani, Chief Revenue Officer of UMG India and South Asia, described the initiative as reflecting the company’s commitment to building long-term value in the Indian market, calling it a step meant to strengthen the foundations for artists and songwriters while creating more value for dedicated fans. He said India was entering “a defining new chapter” for music, and that UMG was looking to work with artists and industry partners to build a more sustainable market over the long run.Grainge said UMG’s approach in China offers a template it hopes to replicate elsewhere. “China has shown what’s possible when healthier music ecosystems take hold,” he said, adding that the company expects India — along with other high-potential markets — to follow a similar trajectory.