No more 'Kala Chashma' or 'Maiyya Mainu' on Spotify as deal talks with Zee Music fail

Music streaming giant Spotify has removed Zee Music Company’s catalog after negotiations for a renewal of their licensing agreement fell through. This has led to the removal of popular Bollywood songs like, 'Apna Bana Liya' from the movie Bhediya, which was the No.1 track on the music platform for the last two weeks.

All the songs that came from Zee's label went off Spotify on March 14, but this has come to the notice of the fans only later. And they are not pleased.

“Spotify and Zee Music have been unable to reach a licensing agreement. Throughout these negotiations, Spotify has tried to find creative ways to strike a deal with Zee Music, and will continue our good faith negotiations in hopes of finding a mutually agreeable solution soon," a Spotify spokesperson told Business Today.

However, this is not the first time Zee Music is also absent from a music platform. Last year the music company cut its ties with Gaana, a few months before the audio-streaming platform became a subscription-only service. became a subscription-only service.

Meanwhile, Zee Music had over two dozen tracks on Spotify’s Daily Top 200 Songs chart for India. Popular hits include ‘Maiyya Mainu’ from Jersey (2022), a successful music album from the movie Kalank (2019) and Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2019), ‘Makhna’ from Drive (2019), 'Kala Chashma' from Baar Baar Dekho (2016), and 'Zaalima' from Raees (2017) amongst others.

Zee Music Company did not immediately reply to Business Today's queries.

The suspension has sparked outrage among fans of Bollywood music, some have even decided to give up their Spotify premium subscription. The fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment.

dear @spotifyindia,
This is my petition to start playing Zee music songs on the platform otherwise I am going to unsubscribe premium membership.... #Spotify #spotifyindia #zeemusiccompany pic.twitter.com/7EpizjW3Yb

— Saurabh Chavan (@Saurabh66180087) March 16, 2023

Toh spotifyindia se kya dushmani thi jo #ArijitSingh k playlists se hata diya 🤨🤨😑😑

— Muskan Gupta (@MuskanG85566146) March 18, 2023

LET SPOTIFY USE YOUR SONGS!!

— Shivam Patel (@Shivam_Patel14) March 18, 2023

Read: Google Play Store flags popular Chinese apps accused of planting malware in phones