Spotify and Apple Music Kill Again
The cutthroat market for premium on-demand music streaming keeps claiming casualties. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced on Monday that it will be shutting down Groove Music, the former Xbox Music streaming music that it rebranded two years ago.
Microsoft will be discontinuing its Groove Music Pass subscription service by the end of the year, and Groove Music app users will no longer be able stream, purchase, or download music at that time. Microsoft is teaming up with Spotify to allow Groove Music Pass customers to port their curated playlists and collections directly into Spotify. The migration swag bag will also include 60 free days on Spotify's premium platform for Groove Music accounts that aren't already there. It's a peaceful surrender to the market leader, and it makes sense. Microsoft and Spotify have worked together before, and there was no way that the software giant was going to hand over its displaced music buffs to Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).
Source: Fool.com