Indian artists are reaching more listeners, earning more royalties and breaking beyond traditional music industry boundaries on Spotify.

India’s music scene is having a big moment on streaming. Spotify’s latest Loud & Clear data shows that Indian artists are finding success across more languages and genres, while increasingly reaching listeners outside the country.

According to Spotify, royalties generated by Indian artists on the platform grew 29% year over year in 2025. The number of artists generating more than INR 10 million in annual royalties also grew 21%, while the number earning more than INR 50 million has doubled since 2023.

And it isn’t just established stars benefiting.

Independent artists are finding a bigger audience

Independent music is increasingly holding its own alongside India’s huge film music industry.

In 2025, 90% of tracks on its Top 50 – India playlist were by Indian artists, while music released outside of Bollywood soundtracks accounted for half of the country’s year-end top 10. Artists including Anuv Jain, Kushagra, Faheem Abdullah and Jasleen Royal all featured among the year’s biggest tracks.

Aditya Rikhari’s independent track Sahiba is a particularly strong example, spending more than 11 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Spotify in India, and breaking a record in the process.

The bigger takeaway for independent musicians is simple: you don’t necessarily need to come through a traditional label or film soundtrack to find a large audience. Streaming gives artists the opportunity to release directly, build a catalogue and let listeners discover their music over time.

Regional languages are driving growth

One of the most interesting parts of Spotify’s data is just how broad the growth has become.

Royalties for regional-language music saw particularly strong increases in 2025, with Telugu up more than 120%, Marathi nearly 50%, Bengali nearly 40%, Malayalam more than 30% and Tamil 20%. Haryanvi has grown even faster, with streams increasing almost sevenfold between February 2023 and February 2026.

Spotify India says it now curates playlists across ten major Indian languages, helping music from different regions reach listeners who might previously have had less exposure to it.

For artists, that points to an important shift. Making music for a specific regional audience doesn’t necessarily mean limiting your potential audience. Streaming platforms can help music travel beyond its original market while allowing artists to retain the language and identity that make their music distinctive.

Indian music is reaching listeners around the world

The international side of the story is just as significant.

More than 40% of the royalties earned by Indian artists on Spotify in 2025 came from listeners outside India. Indian artists were also streamed nearly 335 billion times during the year, while listeners played an Indian artist they had never heard before 12.8 billion times.


That global appetite isn’t restricted to one genre or language. Hanumankind’s “Big Dawgs” reached 360 million streams and No. 1 on a Spotify global chart, while Tamil track Aasa Kooda reached 238 million streams. On Spotify’s 2025 Global Impact List, 11 of the 15 most exported Indian songs came from artists outside film soundtracks.

What this means for independent artists

The Indian streaming market is becoming increasingly diverse, and that’s creating more opportunities for artists who might not fit the traditional mainstream.

The lesson isn’t that every release will suddenly reach millions of listeners. Instead, it’s that artists have more ways to find their audience than ever before.

For Indian artists, that could mean releasing music in regional languages, targeting listeners overseas, building a consistent catalogue or using streaming and social platforms together to turn discovery into long-term fandom.

Getting the music onto the platforms is the starting point. With RouteNote, independent artists and labels can distribute their music to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, JioSaavn and other major services around the world for free.

As Indian music continues travelling further, being able to distribute globally means your next listener doesn’t have to live in your home country.

Distribute your music worldwide for free with RouteNote today.