Microsoft Will Shut Down Groove Music Streaming, Partners With Spotify

You may not be aware but Microsoft has been running its own music streaming service for several years now. The service was previously called Xbox Music but the company later rebranded it to Groove Music to do away with the perception that it was somehow only limited to Xbox owners. However, the move doesn’t seem to have worked as Microsoft has decided to shut down Groove Music. Its next step in the world of music streaming is a partnership with the dominant player in this industry, Spotify.

Microsoft confirmed today that it will soon stop selling Groove Music passes which are required to stream music through its service. Those who are already subscribed will be refunded pro-rata once it discontinues Groove Music Pass on December 31st.

Microsoft does say that it will continue to invest in and update the Groove Music app on all Windows devices to support playback and management of music that users already own. The Groove Music app will no longer allow users to stream music or purchase and download songs after December 31st.

The company has teamed up with Spotify to make it easier for users to move their curated playlists and collections to Spotify. Groove Music Pass customers will be able to do this later this week.

It’s not surprising that Microsoft has chosen Spotify as the partner for this. They have been working on a Spotify Windows 10 app as well as a standalone app for the Xbox One.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Groove Music, Microsoft, Spotify