Microsoft getting out of the music biz, moving Groove subs to Spotify

Enlarge / Groove Music. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft announced today that it's getting out of the online music business. Music purchases in the Windows Store will cease, and the Groove Music Pass subscription service is also ending.

The company says that it will continue to develop the Groove Music app (formerly known as Xbox Music) for playing local and owned music (including files stored on OneDrive), but the music subscription capabilities will be removed from the app.

Existing Music Pass subscribers will be able to migrate their playlists and collections to Spotify in app updates that are going to become broadly available on October 9. Users will have until January 31, 2018 to migrate. Owned music bought from the store will also have to be downloaded (and backed up!) by that date.

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