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Spotify shuts down its Clubhouse competitor

Spotify shuts down its Clubhouse competitor

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Spotify is getting rid of Spotify Live, the audio-only app it launched in 2021.

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An illustration of the Spotify app logo
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Spotify is shuttering its live audio app Spotify Live, as first reported by Music Ally (via TechCrunch). In a statement to The Verge, company spokesperson Gayle Gaviola Moreau confirmed that Spotify is going to “sunset the Spotify Live app,” as it believes “it no longer makes sense as a standalone app.”

Spotify instead indicates that it will continue to offer live audio in limited ways on the main Spotify app, such as listening parties, a feature that lets top fans connect with artists in a virtual space.

The Verge reached out to Spotify for more information on whether Spotify Live features will still exist in the main audio app, but the company declined to elaborate. “While the Spotify Live app is shutting down completely, we will continue to invest in, innovate, and experiment on new formats for creators and listeners around the world,” Gaviola Moreau says.

The music streaming service first launched the audio-only app in 2021 under the name Greenroom. The company built the app in response to all the hype surrounding the social audio app Clubhouse and even acquired the live audio service Betty Labs for €57 million (around $67.7 million at the time) to help it do so.

Following reports that its service was struggling to gain traction, Spotify rebranded Greenroom as Spotify Live and moved it into the main Spotify app to make it more visible. The music streaming service later shut down the creator fund it set up for Spotify Live and even canceled some of its original shows.

“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,” Gaviola Moreau says. “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.”

Aside from Spotify, Meta also cut back on some of its audio products last year. In addition to folding its Clubhouse-like Live Audio Rooms into Facebook Live, the company shut down its podcasts offering and got rid of its shortform audio feature, Soundbites. Reddit also sunset its audio-only Reddit Talk feature earlier this month, while Amazon made staffing cuts at its live radio app Amp last year.

Correction April 3rd, 7:35PM ET: A previous version of the article misinterpreted Spotify’s mention of “listening parties” as a way for users to listen to music together in a remote party. However, Spotify’s listening parties feature is actually a way for top fans to listen to an artist’s music in a virtual space. We regret the error.