The subscription based model is gaining popularity in the Indian music industry. More and more apps are coming up with a subscription model where user can download and listen to original audio content. This kind of model is important to stop piracy and encourage artist to work towards creating original content. In this article we will compare the three most popular Music apps for Indian market – Wynk Music, Gaana.com and Saavn and see which is the best app for you.
1# Wynk Music
This app is developed by Bharti Airtel and hosts a huge collection of Bollywood numbers along with regional cinema. The best part about the app is its subtle interface. Unlike many other apps which has overwhelming categories, sub-categories all denoted by large imagery, Wynk is pretty neat.The categories are same as that of any other music app- Popular, Top charts, New releases etc. Online radio is also available as a separate category in the side menu. User can login and listen to personalized music like songs/playlists marked as favorite or downloaded earlier or can continue without login. The monthly subscription of Rs.99 gives access to unlimited songs download which is a fair price. Users can pay online using conventional methods like internet banking, credit card or debit card. Airtel users have additional option of paying through carrier balance. The app also has an interesting data saving feature which reduces the audio quality and image quality of images/thumbnails to save upto 70% data.
Wynk has beautiful background music player interface on lock screen where it has very intelligently used the full screen to show the album thumbnail of the song playing. This gives an immersive experience when listening to music in background.
You can download the app here
2# Gaana.com
Gaana.com has a lively interface with very vibrant colors. The important difference between Wynk and Gaana.com is the way they approach user input. In wynk, as soon as you open the app, user is immediately taken to the music interface where he can play songs. On the other hand, Gaana.com asks for login, language preferences before taking you to the main interface. Although these two steps can be skipped, but the approach doesn’t seem very elegant. The same options are available in wynk as well, but it is upto the user when he decides to login or set his language preferences. This approach continues across the app, the designers did not skip any opportunity to remind the user that he hasn’t signed up or logged in or hasn’t subscribed yet. This becomes very intruding and kills the experience that a music app is suppose to give.
In addition to this there are too many categories to choose from. We would all agree that categories in music are very subjective and you can find one song in many categories. This is where the app becomes very chaotic. The options are unnecessarily repeated on the top and the options menu. The ads are very intrusive and are a spoiler to a musical experience. Social media is also integrated into the app where users can follow their Facebook friends and vice versa. This is yet to be seen how much popularity is gained by social media integration in music apps. The subscription model is same as that of wynk – Rs.99 per month for unlimited downloads in addition to ad free experience.
You can download the app here
3# Saavn
Visually Saavn lies somewhere between Gaana.com and wynk. It is subtly vibrant with a greenish theme. The icons are flat.
The categories are same as the other two apps. But here too the information architecture has been inconsistent. There is no predictable way to figure out where to find a particular song or playlist. There are too many categories to choose from. This is a good and bad as well. Although the choices are good, inconsistent flow makes it confusing.
In such cases search option is our best friend. Saavn too pushes user to upgrade to a paid account. The way they push is not very positive and feels like they are devaluing the user who is not a paid subscriber. The rates are a little less than wynk and gaana.com with Rs.95 per month or Rs. 285 for three months and Rs. 550 for 6 months.
You can download the app here
In this app knock out we think Wynk stands out with its simplicity. Nevertheless, all such music apps are definitely revolutionizing the music industry by providing users to access to original HD audio content. It is worth mentioning that the subscription is the same as it exists in the United States. The difference here s that the user pays for the subscription and also for the internet charges incurred for downloads. In the US, the user only has to pay for the subscription and internet charges are not levied. We are yet to achieve that infrastructure in terms of network connectivity which reduces the internet charges and improves the online streaming experience for both audio and video content.
