Microsoft Announces the End of Groove Music, Points Users to Spotify Instead

[MacRumors]

Microsoft is shuttering Groove Music. The company announced the news on Monday in a blog post on its site, explaining that the streaming service will be discontinued on December 31 and any customers subscribed to the service will be refunded on a pro rata basis.

Microsoft said it would cease sales of Groove Music Pass memberships soon, and in a partnership with Spotify, would make it easy for existing Groove Music subscribers to move their playlists over to the rival music streaming service.

With the continued advancement of music streaming today, all the world's music has become easily accessible across a variety of devices, unlocking new ways to discover and experience music. As we continue to listen to what our customers want in their music experience we know that access to the best streaming service, the largest catalog of music, and a variety of subscriptions is top of the list.

Which is why we're excited to announce that we're expanding our partnership with Spotify to bring the world's largest music streaming service to our Groove Music Pass customers. Beginning this week, Groove Music Pass customers can easily move all their curated playlists and collections directly into Spotify. Plus, you may be eligible for a 60-day free trial of Spotify Premium.

Microsoft said users of the Groove Music iOS app will be able to continue using music purchased through the service and stored on OneDrive, but streaming, buying, and downloading through the app will end for good on December 31.

It's unclear how many subscribers were still using the ailing service, which is home to a 50-million track library, but the announcement will be good news for Spotify, with Microsoft now officially promoting the rival as the go-to streaming service across both Windows 10 and Xbox platforms.

Article Link: Microsoft Announces the End of Groove Music, Points Users to Spotify Instead

 

[az431]

Shocking

 

[gixxerfool]

I’m not a fan of Microsoft at any level, but they keep trying to break into music and not doing well. They should stick to where they do well. Game consoles, Windows, Office, and Exchange.

 

[kissmo]

Microsoft and Music was always a struggle.
It’s interesting to see how they struggle with some areas they don’t have a good grip on.

 

[OllyW]

I wasn't even aware they had a music service. It wasn't promoted very well in the UK unlike Spotify and Apple Music which you can't seem to avoid.

 

[Quu]

I honestly did not know they did streaming Music. And I do use a Windows 10 computer.

 

[Hater]

Can't blame them for trying, I mean nobody took them serious with the original X-Box announcement, et voila...

 

[viizi]

I had never heard of Groove before. It's a bit of a shame because both the logo and name sound and look better than the Spotify counterpart.

 

[vmistery]

It’s good they are backing Spotify rather than one of the smaller providers really as you do need at least 2 major streaming players in the market and Spotify seems to be the only one that has a chance of standing up to Apple longer term.

I’m sure all 7 of Groove’s customers will migrate

 

[Onexy]

And yet there is no windows store Spotify app.

 

[canadianreader]

Microsoft’s strategy in music and entertainment has been a disaster since time memorial I kind of agree with Steve Jobs when he said they have no culture

 

[Kabeyun]

the announcement will be good news for Spotify

So the Spotify folks had no idea until this announcement. What a nice surprise.

 

[JosephAW]

I'll have to retire my Zune and Windows phone.

 

[Abazigal]

No surprise there.

Microsoft has lost mobile and by extension, they are doomed to fail in any endeavour which is reliant on you having a strong presence in mobile.

 

[kemal]

This reminds me to make fun of my friends who bought the brown Zunes.

 

[Futurix]

Yay, one less crappy app bundled with Windows 10.

 

[dmylrea]

Microsoft and Music was always a struggle.
It’s interesting to see how they struggle with some areas they don’t have a good grip on.

Not true. Years back they had Zune as a service, app and device all of which were excellent. People to this day use the Zune device (even though the service no longer exists). The software was amazing. Unlike the "glorified spreadsheet" that was iTunes, the Zune app was graphically rich and to be honest, worked very, very well. I used it as my main media streaming software, and had the Zune Pass which gave me unlimited access to their catalog plus a FREE DRM-free album every month as part of my $10/mo subscription.

The problem was, despite everyone saying how great it was, Microsoft has a problem HEARING people, and wound up retiring the whole Zune system to the dismay of their subscribers.

In general, MS has a problem making anything they do intuitive, easy to use, and having the features people want. Their XBOX and Office365 account websites, for example, are complete disasters with no clear lines between your accounts, yet they are connected. It's like the people that design those sites think so differently than everyone else, that their products are unusable by most. The sites defy logic when it comes to simple functions.

Apart from Windows 10, I don't think MS has a "good grip" on any of their products. And even with Windows 10, the goal posts seem to keep moving when it comes to making things easy as they remove access to things (like control panel) just to make it harder for us to access it.

 

[GrumpyMom]

This reminds me to make fun of my friends who bought the brown Zunes.

Hush, I bought a pink one.

 

[kissmo]

Not true. Years back they had Zune as a service, app and device all of which were excellent.

Yeah but Zune died.
I am trying to say that they struggle to keep it going.
Zune had iPod as competition back then...

When I said struggle I meant - struggle with being able to survive on the market.
But I get your point as well

 

[JohnApples]

Zune, Xbox Music, and then Groove... the latter I only accidentally discovered while going through my apps on Windows10. Never saw it promoted once.

Hopefully this means Spotify will finally have Xbox integration and the ability to stream it whil gaming.

 

[xpxp2002]

The biggest problem was that it was never promoted well and went through many rebrandings in between. I used Zune Pass since the early days that included the monthly 10 songs DRM-free, as mentioned above. Still have the MP3s. It was the best deal in music at the time.

Can’t say I’ll miss it since going to Apple Music last year. They long since took away the monthly songs-for-keeps and competitors have long since surpassed their app in quality and functionality, so it just wasn’t worth paying the same price when Spotify and Apple Music had so much more in terms of exclusive and direct artist access. But I definitely pause today to mourn the market losing a small, but good competitor.

 

[jamesrick80]

First time knowing this existed.

 

[Sirious]

And yet there is no windows store Spotify app.

There actually is! It looks and works the same as the desktop version

 

[sinsin07]

Not true.

Apparently it is.
Zune is dead.

This:

Years back they had Zune as a service, app and device all of which were excellent. ... The software was amazing. Unlike the "glorified spreadsheet" that was iTunes, the Zune app was graphically rich and to be honest, worked very, very well. ...snip

This not agree wit this:

The problem was, despite everyone saying how great it was, Microsoft has a problem HEARING people, and wound up retiring the whole Zune system to the dismay of their subscribers.
In general, MS has a problem making anything they do intuitive, easy to use, and having the features people want. snip..

 

[djeeyore25]

Microsoft had some great music deals back in the day. I bought box sets from the Supremes, John Lennon, Kiss, and Def Jam for $1.99 each. They also gave away albums for free. Guess it's time to make sure I've downloaded them all.