Radiowalla, the Indian internet radio platform, serves dozens of channels to distinctly niche audiences.
Among its many music stations is a spiritual channel from The Art of Living movement and Munchkin Radio, for kids.
Radiowalla – which is Hindi for The Radio Guy – also hit the headlines last month when it switched on India’s first lesbian and gay station, Q radio.
Asia Radio Today spoke to Harpreet Singh, Chief Operating Officer of Radiowalla to find out how the platform fairing despite copyright issues (there is no industry-wide music copyright body).
We also asked whether the company will take part in Phase III of private radio licensing, due anytime.
1. What made you start Radiowalla and how is it going so far?
Radiowalla evolved from an idea to provide listeners with content that they won’t normally find on FM radio stations.
FM radio in India has become very predictable and mass market. There is no effort to cater to special interest groups and different music genres.
Radiowalla is an effort to fill this gap. The progress has been nothing short of phenomenal so far.
Without any marketing efforts we have managed to grab a large chunk of listening time and have developed a loyal listener base.
2. India has many very strong regional distinctions. How regional do you see the service becoming?
Regional content is playing a very important role for us.
For example we currently have 5 channels in Punjabi. Other languages like Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri etc are all represented.
Going forward, we see this regionalisation of content becoming even stronger and we are planning to launch about 10 more regional language channels in coming months.
3. Do you see the high cost of playing Bollywood film music (in particular) to be an ongoing burden?
We believe that the bigger problem is the non availability of a standard regime of music streaming applicable to all labels.
Basically, we need to enter into negotiations with multiple labels and each one of them has their own rules to follow.
A unified regime applicable to all labels with compulsory licensing is far better as it would be fair to all parties.
If every label and every internet radio station knows the cost per stream, it will be a level playing field for everyone involved and people can design their business models. However, it is completely the opposite situation right now.
We understand that the market will evolve in a few years from now as the music companies will maximize their revenue with this.
5. With Phase III of private radio licensing due this month (an auction of 839 new FM frequencies), where do you see Radio Walla playing a role?
We are a company that generates audio content. FM radio is an obvious choice to utilise that audio content.
If there are viable opportunities in Phase 3 in spite of the ridiculous reserve prices for bidding, we would definitely want to be a part of it.
6.Where do you think the opportunities will lie for international radio players in Phase III.?
If the bidding is successful, we will see a lot of interest from international players for equipment / technology / programming etc.
However given the financials of most of the radio stations, we don’t see foreign investors making a beeline for investing in Indian radio companies.