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Spotify has pulled the plug on its Spotify Live live-audio platform. The Swedish audio streaming and digital media services provider said it is discontinuing its standalone app but vowed to keep promoting live interactions between the artists and their fans.
Spotify’s decision to shut down its live audio app was confirmed by its spokesperson to TechCrunch this week. The representative also said that the company would continue with live features on its central platform.
“After a period of experimentation and learnings around how Spotify users interact with live audio, we have made the decision to sunset the Spotify Live app,” the company’s spokesman told the publication through an email. “We believe there is a future for live fan-creator interactions in the Spotify ecosystem however, based on our learnings, it no longer makes sense as a standalone app.”
He added, “We have seen promising results in the artist-focused use case of ‘listening parties,’ which we will continue to explore moving forward to facilitate live interactions between artists and fans.”
It was only in April 2022 that the audio and media streaming provider added the live audio feature from its Spotify Greenroom, which is Spotify’s companion app. When it was integrated into the main streaming app, the Greenroom was renamed Spotify Live.
The feature allowed creators to interact with their audience in real-time, so Spotify Live also served as a stage for hosts to hold a live listening show. Spotify acquired the app that was later made into the “Greenroom” in 2021 after it bought Betty Labs for $62 million. Betty Labs created the Greenroom, which was originally called the Locker Room, which offers live audio of sports content.
Meanwhile, Billboard reported that prior to Spotify Live’s shutdown, the company introduced a number of new features last month. Its chief executive officer, Daniel Ek, said that these updates are the biggest transformation that the platform has ever had in a decade.
Photo by: Alexander Shatov/Unsplash
