JioSaavn merger: Reliance Jio users get free access to Pro version for 90 days

Reliance Jio has reportedly completed the acquisition of music streaming application Saavn. The company has updated the application on the Apple App Store with the rebranded "JioSaavn."

Apart from the rebranding, Reliance Jio is offering its subscribers free access to JioSaavn Pro, the ad-free version of the app, for 90 days. The Pro version allows users to play music offline and audio resolution up to 320Kbps.

The rebranded Saavn app on iOS has the same look and feel, Gadgets360 reported. The app has now over 45 million music tracks. Apple iPhone users can update their Saavn app to get the new music streaming application.

Interestingly enough, the rebranded JioSaavn app is not available on Android yet. Saavn in a tweet confirmed the updated application on Android is "just around the corner."

Reliance Jio had announced acquiring Saavn in March this year. Jio said it will be combining the application its digital music service JioMusic, which is part of the company's suite of premium applications.

The combined entity is valued over $1 billion with JioMusic's implied valuation at $670 million. Reliance Jio also promised to invest up to $100 million to scale up its music streaming portfolio. 

"We are delighted to announce this partnership with Saavn, and believe that their highly experienced management team will be instrumental in expanding Jio-Saavn to an extensive user base, thereby strengthening our leadership position in the Indian streaming market," Akash Ambani said in a statement earlier this year.

India's music streaming space has seen meteoric growth in last couple of years. According to research firm IFPI, music streaming contributed 27% growth to the overall Indian music industry in 2017. Revenues from the music streaming platforms increased at a rate of 37.26%. ALSO READ: Gaana revamps app with AI-based features, voice search, and more

A separate report from Jana, Saavn led the market share with the highest app installs at 26.1% by March 31.

"The merger also saw a big increase in time spent in app as it went from a combined 32.5% share of time spent in app on January 1st, 2018, to a 37.8% share by March 31st, 2018. Over the same time period, Google Play Music dropped significantly from 45.7% to 40.0%, but still remained 2.2% ahead of Jio-Saavn," added the report.

The Jana report had also indicated at an "imminent consolidation" in the Indian digital music and video space with more and new international players joining the segment.

"The merger of Saavn-Jio will be interesting to watch and could be a precursor to broader consolidation of Indian-based streaming providers banding together to fight against global tech giants like Google, Spotify, and Apple," wrote Nathan Eagle, Jana's founder and CEO.

While Amazon and Apple have gradually expanded their digital music services in India, Spotify is also laying the groundwork for its entry to the market. According to reports, Spotify has already partnered with several record labels including T-Series and is planning to launch its services in next three months.  ALSO READ: Best free and paid music applications in India