How do artists earn money with free music distribution in India?

Although the distribution is free, artists earn revenue through royalties generated from streams and downloads on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and JioSaavn. Each time a listener plays a track, the platform pays a small amount, which gets collected and distributed to the artist by the distributor. Companies like A3Tunes ensure that independent artists keep a major share of their earnings while providing transparent reporting. For Indian artists, this model is especially powerful because it removes financial barriers and allows them to monetize their music globally without paying upfront costs to labels or distributors.