Remember the 2020 lock-ins? In addition to seeing celebrities crying in their houses of hundreds of square meters and people buying all the toilet paper they could fit in their homes, being locked in our homes we also had the opportunity to live the boom of apps like TikTok or Zoom, or even the birth of social apps, like Clubhouse.
Clubhouse was a live audio social network whose registration, at first, required an invitation from someone who already had an account. Eventually, the app removed the requirement and everyone was free to sign up for it. At a time when our home was all the space we could see, Clubhouse had considerable success, to the point that major companies like Twitter or Spotify set their sights on its functions.
While Twitter developed Twitter Spaces, Spotify created Greenroom in 2021, a live audio app geared towards sports content (like a sports Twitch, but without the visuals) that was originally called Locker Room (until Spotify bought the developer, Betty Labs).
Little by little, Spotify was trying to get people to use this new service, expanding its content (beyond sports), changing its name to Spotify Live and even integrating live audio features into the main Spotify app.
But the Spotify Live app didn’t take off. Although it allowed users to create or join live shows where they could talk about (almost) whatever they wanted and even invite other participants, the world was already taking to the streets and living outside, abandoning many of the digital habits of the pandemic. And, as is often the case in such cases, it has now come to an end.
After two years of life, Spotify has announced the closure of the Spotify Live app. As picked up by TechCrunch, although the Spotify Live app will be shutting down for good, Spotify will continue to explore live audio features on its main platform. “Based on what we’ve learned, it no longer makes sense as a standalone app,” a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Although in Spain it did not have much prominence, in the United States some Spotify Live programs became popular, such as “Deux Me After Dark”, “Doughboys: Snack Pack”, “The Movie Buff” and “A Gay in the Life”. Now, it’s time to say goodbye to Spotify Live. Maybe this isn’t an end (let’s see, yes), but rather the beginning of something new (and better) in the Spotify app.
