Indian telecom giant Airtel is shutting down its streaming music service, Wynk Music, and integrate all its employees into the Airtel ecosystem, according to a report by Money Control.
“We can confirm that we will sunset Wynk Music and all Wynk music employees will be absorbed within the Airtel ecosystem,” a company spokesperson said.
The development will likely occur within the next few months.
Airtel’s Partnership with Apple:
This announcement arrived shortly after the Jio rival partnered with tech giant Apple to provide exclusive offers for Apple TV+ and Apple Music to its customers in India. It will also allow Airtel Xstream customers to access content from Apple TV+ with premium Airtel WiFi and Postpaid plans.
“Airtel users will have access to Apple Music. Additionally, Wynk Premium users will receive exclusive offers from Airtel for Apple Music,” Bharti Airtel spokesperson said.
“We are thrilled that Airtel customers in India will soon be able to enjoy all of the incredible content on Apple TV+ and Apple Music,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’ vice president of Apple Music, Apple TV+, Sports, and Beats.
“With our ever growing catalog of world-class films, television shows and music to choose from we know there will be something for everyone,” Schusser added.
Wynk Music: An unviable market presence?
The Wynk Music app was launched by Airtell in September 2014 and allows users to download music for offline listening, set caller tunes, listen to podcasts, etc. It currently has a subscriber count of approximately 100 million and, according to reports, contributes Rs 300 crore in an annual revenue for its parent company.
However, sources suggest that Airtel chose to discontinue Wynk’s service because it was not financially viable to keep it operational with a lack of a clear monteization strategy.
