Music streaming service Dhingana shuts down

By Shakti Patel

The digital music industry took another hit with music streaming service Dhingana deciding to close operations.

In the last one year, players such as Flipkart, which ran the ‘Flyte’ music store, have decided to pull the plug in the face of declining revenue.

“We hope you enjoyed listening to Dhingana as much as we enjoyed building it. But alas, all good things must end,” said the Dhingana team, in a parting message to its users. Dhingana, which received $7 million in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, apparently ran into problems with music licensing fees—which are often hiked unexpectedly by music labels.

“The problem is exclusive licensing, where one person tries to corner the rights to a particular music catalogue. The game is clearly a last man standing one, where now only Tiger Global-backed Saavn and T-Series favorite Hungama are left,” said an industry executive.