new delhi, Aug. 4 -- Audio streaming business continues to struggle in India, as most platforms offer similar music catalogues, lacking in novelty or innovation and failing to drive subscriptions. Amid a sea of soundalike tracks, Amazon Music is striking a new chord to soar above the noise. It is following a three-pronged approach to stay more relevant than the others. It is offering a completely ad-free experience that doesn't charge customers separately and is part of the Amazon Prime bundle along with video and shopping, a top company official said. It is also producing a range of exclusive podcasts and video content with artistes in addition to songs. And finally, it aims to gain from the Amazon consumer tech ecosystem, including Fire TVs and Alexa devices that can help improve the listening experience. "For us, the differentiation (from other players) comes from the fact that we are an ad-free, on-demand product. We're not charging customers separately because it's all within the Prime bundle," Rishabh Gupta, country head, Amazon Music India, said in an interview. "On the content side, we do a lot of exclusive podcasts and bring fans closer to artistes via video IPs (intellectual properties)." The platform hosts content in 20-plus languages, with Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi forming the top five, Gupta added. On the Android app, the user interface supports nine languages. The platform that has seen engagement surge since the pandemic. Gupta said that podcast customer listening hours are up 22% over 2024. While Hindi remains its most streamed language with an 84% customer spread, followed by English and Punjabi at 63%, Tamil and Telugu are witnessing strong growth, too, driven by curated regional playlists and improved discovery features. Gupta said the service is fully committed to being seen as a part of the Prime bundle and has witnessed great traction among consumers, in turn, helping the Prime program (including video and shopping) significantly. "People who use multiple benefits have been some of our longest-serving Prime customers," Gupta added. As a DSP (distribution service provider), Gupta said the platform doesn't necessarily dictate as to what content needs to be produced. However, besides the music catalogue that comes via acquisitions from both from the film and non-film genres, Amazon Music is creating some of its own video and editorial IPs. This shoulder content, ranging from 2 to 20-minute videos, touches upon themes like what may be going on in an artiste's mind before going on stage at a concert, and so on. Further, while the platform is open to all kinds of podcasts, it targets some exclusive, early access deals as well. Podcast content now makes up about 15% of total user engagement on the platform....