Microsoft announced that it's discontinuing Groove, its music streaming service that never reached the popularity it needs.
Giving up on Groove Music, the company is partnering with Spotify instead. An update to the Groove Music app will allow Groove users to migrate their playlists to Spotify.
Microsoft and Spotify have been working together on a Windows 10 app and has added Spotify support to the Xbox One. So Microsoft in choosing Spotify as its preferred partner is no surprise.
The company said that it will continue to develop the Groove Music app for playing local and owned music (including files stored on OneDrive), but the music subscription capabilities will be removed from the app.
So it seems that Microsoft never quite make it in the music industry. Microsoft’s music streaming service went through several confusing reinventions (from Zune Music to Xbox Music, and then to Groove in 2015) in a bet to make music-streaming service more relevant to consumers.
However, despite the name changes, Groove never saw the light that shone popularity like its competitors.
Spotify already boasts 140 million consumers. Apple Music also gained a rapid traction in the market with over 30 million subscribers. Even Google Play Music and Amazon Music are performing much better in the market.
So Groove never had real name recognition; it never became a brand that Microsoft wanted. Somehow, Groove shares the same fate with Windows Phone/Mobile operating system.
While Microsoft still dominates the PC market, it struggled to give people a reason to choose its services over others that were already ubiquitous.
This decision leaves Microsoft as the only major platform to not have its own music service.