Mumbai: Guvera announced the launch of its popular service in India, offering a library of over 12 million tracks via web and mobile platforms. The mobile application, featuring free and unlimited music from local Bollywood albums and international artists, is now available on the Play Store for Android and the iOS App Store.
Developed in 2008 in response to the mass consumption of illegal music online, Guvera provides consumers with a free and legal way to access music whilst giving royalties to the artists and record labels responsible for producing it.
Guvera is a free, ad-funded service that offers users expert-curated playlists with no costs or subscription fees. A unique feature of the service is #Play, which provides users with the ability to tailor a music experience based on their current mood, activity or preferences by searching using hashtags (#). Consumers can also search and discover music, as well as manage and share their own playlists. The integrated social features enable users to follow friends and celebrities on Guvera, and access their playlists.
Guvera’s global partnership with Lenovo, one of the world’s leading PC companies, will see the Guvera app pre-loaded onto Lenovo smartphones and tablets across a potential 160 markets in which Lenovo operate, giving Guvera huge potential to reach millions of people around the world.
Commenting on the eve of launch, Mr. Claes Loberg, Founder and Director of Innovation for Guvera, said, “We are both proud and excited to be the first-of-its-kind international music streaming offering to enter India; a market that is truly diverse in terms of its taste for music. Guvera provides its users with an unmatched user-friendly experience. We plan to provide our Indian users with the best expert-curated local and international content – all they have to do is hit the ‘play’ button.”
Guvera’s commitment to providing music for free via an ad-funded model has been seamlessly integrated with the user experience via the introduction of branded channels. Premium brands including Nikon, Croma and Godrej have already launched brand channels on the Guvera India platform. Loberg explains, “Branded channels are a great example of how users are able to engage with brands in a less disruptive manor. Guvera are putting the consumer in charge of the advertising experience. Moreover, advertisers know that they are paying for ads that consumers want. We believe that Guvera is a platform for advertisers and brands to connect with a significant database of users, made possible with the help of Guvera’s innovative content-targeting algorithm.”
In line with the strategy to serve a healthy mix of localized content, Guvera has entered into tie-ups with major music labels and content aggregators in India, including Sony Music, Hungama.com (T-Series & Speed Records), Universal, Saregama, Eros International, Times Music, Believe, Orchard, TuneCore, CDBaby and INGrooves.
Users also have the option to subscribe to Guvera’s premium on-demand service ‘Guvera Platinum’, for Rs. 199 per month, which gives users full control of their music experience.
