Bharti Airtel will soon call it a day for its music streaming service - Wynk Music - a decade after its launch. The company will be absorbing all its employees in the Airtel ecosystem, a company spokesperson told Moneycontrol.
"We can confirm that we will sunset Wynk Music and all Wynk Music employees will be absorbed within the Airtel ecosystem," the spokesperson said. The move comes after the company announced a partnership with Apple Inc. to offer exclusive deals for OTT video and music streaming services, such as Apple TV+ and Apple Music for Indian users.
"Airtel users will have access to Apple Music. Additionally, Wynk Premium users will receive exclusive offers from Airtel for Apple Music," Bharti Airtel spokesperson told Moneycontrol.
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Airtel’s Wynk Music was launched in 2014 and enabled users to download music for offline streaming, set caller tunes, tune into podcasts, and stream music in multiple regional languages, among other features.
“After launching and operating the music platform for ten years and serving 100+ million customers, Wynk will cease to exist as a standalone entity,” Airtel said in an internal mass mailer to Wynk customers. Wynk is part of the company’s digital services business and generates approximately Rs 250 to Rs 300 crore in annual revenue for the telecom company.
Airtel announced on August 27 that it is tying up with Apple for a strategic partnership to offer exclusive offers for its OTT video and music streaming services, including Apple TV+ and Apple Music, in India. The tie-up will allow Airtel Xstream customers to access content from Apple TV+ with premium Airtel WiFi and Postpaid plans. The company said the addition of Apple services will make the deal sweeter for the Airtel Xstream fiber offering later this year.
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Why Is Airtel Shutting Down Wynk Music?
As per the sources, Airtel decided to shut down Wynk’s service because it did not make commercial sense to continue running it without a clear monetization plan. "In India, music streaming monetization is already low. Secondly, Airtel wanted to offer a better service in the music streaming space. Apple is an established player in the global music streaming space," a source told Moneycontrol.
The source also said that the partnership will also help Apple acquire quality subscribers. "Under the deal, Airtel will offer Apple Music subscription at a much better and discounted rate than Apple’s pricing. Such plans will remain exclusive to Airtel customers and unavailable through any other telco." The source also added that both companies are working on a carrier billing alliance, which will help Apple monetize its OTT and music streaming services.