Microsoft discontinues Groove Music Pass service, effective December 31, partners with Spotify, which it will recommend to Windows users instead
without your phone — for $77 Jerry Johnson / Windows Experience Blog : Microsoft to bring Spotify to Groove Music Pass customers Peter Bright / Ars Technica : Microsoft getting out of the music biz, moving Groove subs to Spotify Jeff Gamet / The Mac Observer : Microsoft Kills its Groove Streaming Music Service and Music Store Luke Dormehl / Cult of Mac : Microsoft throws in the towel on its Apple Music rival Chris Merriman / Inquirer : Microsoft kills Groove Music in Spotify deal and issues bewildering FAQ Bogdan Popa / Softpedia News : Microsoft Giving Up on an Industry That's Generating Billions for Apple Kevin Murnane / Forbes : Another One Bites The Dust: Microsoft Abandons Music Streaming To Spotify Tim Hardwick / MacRumors : Microsoft Announces the End of Groove Music, Points Users to Spotify Instead Carl Velasco / Tech Times : Microsoft Kills Groove Music Service, Migrates Users To Spotify With A 2-Month Premium Trial Nick Salerni / iPhone in Canada Blog : Microsoft Retires Groove Music Streaming Service, Switches Customers to Spotify Richard Chirgwin / The Register : Microsoft may have its groove back but it's binned ‘Groove’ Greg Synek / TechSpot : Microsoft is shutting down Groove Music in favor of Spotify Rhett Jones / Gizmodo : Microsoft Gives Up on Its Groove Music Service, Says to Use Spotify Now Jordan Palmer / Android Police : Microsoft's Groove Music Pass is dead in favor of Spotify Jon Fingas / Engadget : Microsoft gives up on Groove Music, switches customers to Spotify Kareem Anderson / On MSFT : As Microsoft abandons music streaming, here's how to cancel Groove Music Alex Wagner / PhoneDog.com : Microsoft killing Groove Music streaming service, partnering with Spotify Matt Weinberger / Business Insider : Microsoft is killing its Spotify competitor, will partner up with Spotify instead Nat Levy / GeekWire : Microsoft discontinuing Groove Music Pass streaming service Dec. 31, teaming up with Spotify Rich Woods / Neowin : Groove Music passes away; to be replaced with Spotify Mark Wycislik-Wilson / BetaNews : Microsoft to close Groove Music Pass and move users to Spotify Munsif Vengattil / Reuters : Microsoft to end Groove streaming service; offers Spotify migration Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch : Microsoft will soon shutter its music store and streaming service, move users to Spotify Daniel Rubino / Windows Central : Microsoft throws in towel against Spotify, drops Groove Music Brandy Betz / Seeking Alpha : Microsoft will shift music streaming customers to Spotify Matthew Hughes / The Next Web : Farewell Microsoft Groove, we barely listened to you. Paul Thurrott / Thurrott.com : Microsoft Ends Groove Music Pass, Offers Transition to Spotify Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet : Microsoft to shutter its Groove Music service and migrate users to Spotify Tweets: Adam / @trollinthunder : How long until they do the same to Mixer and partner with Twitch? http://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Groove Music Pass was itself a short-lived bet: Microsoft had rebranded Xbox Music as Groove only two years ago, then bought up Zikera's player technology in early 2016 to sharpen it. Ending the Pass on December 31 and handing subscribers to Spotify closes that chapter barely eighteen months after the acquisition.
The retreat matters because Windows is still a massive distribution surface — Microsoft will now recommend Spotify to its own users rather than compete with it, effectively conceding the default music slot on Windows to a third party while Apple Music, which negotiated label licenses without a free tier back in 2015, loses one of its few big-platform rivals.
First-order effects
- Groove Music Pass subscribers must move to Spotify by December 31 or lose their streaming service; Microsoft's own music store and subscription business end on that date.
- Spotify inherits Microsoft's Windows user base as a referral channel, gaining installs it did not have to acquire through marketing spend.
Second-order effects
- Apple Music loses a direct competitor for the Windows audience at exactly the moment its no-free-tier licensing strategy already constrains its funnel into price-sensitive markets.
- Other preinstalled Windows services face the same logic: if Microsoft won't defend first-party media apps, partners' bundled offerings become the default path to Windows users.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward platform owners exiting first-party content retail entirely — a trajectory Microsoft later confirmed by shutting down the Movies & TV storefront as well, leaving media consumption on Windows to specialist services.
- Streaming consolidates around dedicated specialists (Spotify, Apple, YouTube), with operating-system vendors reduced to referral and distribution partners rather than content competitors.
The trend: Platform vendors are abandoning first-party media subscriptions in favor of routing their users to specialist streaming services, trading content ambitions for distribution leverage.