Sony Music become the first label to put a new single behind a streaming paywall

Sony Music has led the charge and pushed streaming monetisation into a new realm, putting the new Diplo single behind a streaming paywall across all the major services in India.

MBW reports that leading Indian streaming services Saavn, Gaana, Apple Music, and Hungama have all placed the new track ‘Phurr’, a collaboration between Diplo, and Indian star Pritam, behind paywalls – meaning if you wanna hear the song, you’ll have to sign up to one of the services.

Sony Music Entertainment, India and Middle East president. Shridhar Subramaniam said of being the first to trial this move, “The concept of ‘everything-free’ will change or rather needs to change to an ecosystem where some things will be free and other things will be paid.

“The reason ‘Phurr’ was chosen is because it is the biggest project of the year with an international collaboration, so we felt that if we are taking this step, then we must do it with a very big song. We needed a big project with a must-listen song that had so much anticipation.

“We’re inserting a paid window in the music business which didn’t exist prior to this. At the end of the day, it is the health of the music industry and the health of the platforms that are at stake, and this decision directly benefits the health of the creators. They will definitely be in for this.”

While Tidal have often placed big name exclusives from the likes of Beyonce, Kanye West and Jay-Z behind paywalls in the past, these were to drive subscriptions to a singular streaming service.

No doubt Sony are receiving a sizeable chunk from any new subscriptions that occur through this concept, too.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.