'Music Streaming Third Most-Used Service by Urban Indian Internet Users'

As many as 97.4 million people in urban India listen to music online which is close to 63 percent of the 168 million total urban Internet users in the country and around 75 percent of this traffic comes from mobile phones, it said.

"The fast proliferation of smartphones and falling data rates have definitely contributed to the growing demand for music streaming on mobile, but what has really catalysed its quick uptake is the way some of the music app providers have positioned and sold the services," JuxtSmartMandate co-founder Mrutyunjay Mishra told PTI.

The online survey conducted in June 2015 across 496 top towns in the country estimates that 73.8 million urban Internet users in India stream music on their mobile phones using data connection.

"The music streaming users use either an app or a mobile site through a browser, to stream music on their phone. The study found that just about 36 million use an app to stream music on their mobile though they have been catalyst to the growth," Mishra said.

With total app downloads of 28 million and 25.6 million, respectively, Gaana and Saavn lead this segment, the study said.

They are followed by Shazam, with a base of 12 million total downloads, and Hungama, with a total of 10.9 million downloads, respectively.

However, in terms of active user base, the study found that Gaana, with a user base of 15.2 million and Saavn, with a base of 14.1 million users, are market leaders while Apple iTunes, with 4 million users, is at the third spot in India.

Bollywood remains the top genre, followed by ghazals and other soft romantic music while devotional songs are the third top favourite, it added.