Spotify removes hundreds of Zee Music songs including 'Apna Bana Le' and more, as Licensing deal ends in India

Song 'Apna Bana Le' from the music of the 2022 Hindi film Bhediya, which was the No. 1 most listened song on Spotify in India in the last two weeks, is no longer available on the platform.

licensing agreement between Spotify and Zee Music:  Spotify said in a statement sent to Billboard. “Amidst these results, Spotify has attempted to find constructive ways to reach an agreement with Zee Music and we will continue our honest negotiations in the hope of reaching a mutually agreeable settlement. 

Anurag Bedi, chief commercial officer of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, declined to comment.

Apart from Spotify, Zee Music is no more there on 'Gaana', which it had severed ties with in 2022, months before the audio streaming platform became a subscription-only service. 

On March 14, the last day its catalog could be streamed on Spotify, Zee Music had over two dozen tracks on Spotify's India Daily Top 200 Songs chart. These included long-running Bollywood hits such as the title tracks of "Maaya Manu" (Jersey, 2022), "Kalank" (2019) and "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas" (2019), "Makhna" (Drive, 2019) ), “Namo Namo” (Kedarnath, 2018) and “Zalima” (Raees, 2017)

The label's catalog also includes soundtracks for films distributed by its subsidiary Zee Studios, such as 2018's rom-com Veere Di Wedding and 2019's hip-hop-centric Gully Boy.4