Gaana goes behind paywall singing its swansong

Acquisition talks with Airtel have fallen through and India’s oldest music streaming company is making a last, frantic attempt to survive a while longer.

14 September, 202210 min
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Gaana goes behind paywall singing its swansong

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Editor's note: Last week, things took a turn for the worse at Gaana. For a while now, troubles have been mounting for India’s oldest music streaming company—losses, unpaid dues, an unsuccessful search for a new investor and employees leaving a sinking ship. Recently, a breather seemed around the corner with a possible acquisition of Gaana by Bharti Airtel; the two companies were in advanced talks in July to finalize terms.  Those talks have now fallen through, as reported late last week. From Reuters: Gaana, also backed by India’s Times Internet, said in the email that talks with a potential acquirer had “fallen through,” without naming the other party… In the email sent this week, Gaana’s head of content and partnerships, Sachin Kamble, said the company had not been able to “bring in fresh investments” and sought support for a new paid model of the service. “Now we are at (a) crossroads—wind down/find a way to continue ... we have decided to give this another try. Hence, we have closed streaming for free users today and (are) moving to paid only model,” Kamble …

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