Less than a week until TNW València 🇪🇸 Get a last-minute 30% discount on your ticket

This article was published on July 10, 2013

Indian music service Dhingana launches ad-free subscription for iOS at $1.99 per month


Indian music service Dhingana launches ad-free subscription for iOS at $1.99 per month
Kaylene Hong
Story by

Kaylene Hong

Kaylene Hong was Asia Reporter for The Next Web between 2013 and 2014, based in Singapore. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Stay in Kaylene Hong was Asia Reporter for The Next Web between 2013 and 2014, based in Singapore. She is bilingual in English and Mandarin. Stay in touch via Twitter or Google+.

Indian music streaming service Dhingana has launched an ad-free paid subscription service for its iOS app as it steps up efforts to monetize its mobile content.

The subscription service, called Dhingana Gold, is being offered as an in-app purchase at $1.99 per month. Besides being ad-free, it also allows users to get premium features such as unlimited music downloads, offline access to songs and the ability to sync downloads across two devices. All new users will get a 15-day free trial for the service.

Dhingana Screenshot

Dhingana’s move comes hot on the heels of it introducing video-roll advertising to its iOS app last month, which companies can use to run 10-30 second pre- or post-roll clips that are integrated into the app.

The company’s stepped-up focus on its mobile apps is not a surprise, considering that in India data suggests mobile Internet usage has already passed that of PCs. Its rival Saavn recently launched a ‘Pro’ version, while Times Internet-owned Gaana finally launched on mobile last month.

Dhingana CEO Rohit Bhatia had told TNW earlier this year about Dhingana’s three-pronged approach to monetization: its ad-based business, subscription-based services (which are particularly popular with the Indian diaspora) and domestic carrier billing.

Dhingana is one of a number of Spotify-like streaming services for Indian music (others include Gaana and Saavn). It offers more than 1 million songs across 42 languages and claims a monthly active user base of more than 15 million. The service is available for iOS, Blackberry, Android, Symbian Windows Phone and via a Web-based player.

Founded in 2007 by twin brothers Swapnil and Snehal Shinde, Dhingana raised an investment round of $7 million last year.

Headline image via Thinkstock

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with