Spotify announced on April 12 to add its live audio platform within its music streaming application. The Swedish company also took the opportunity to quietly end the creator fund planned for the service.
A live audio platform to compete with Club House
Greenroom, now renamed Spotify Live, was launched on June 16 in 135 different countries on iOS and Android. The app is an upgraded version of Locker Room, an equivalent service specializing in sports, developed by Betty Labs. The application publisher was acquired in March 2021 by the Swedish streaming giant in order to compete with Club House.
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Available within the Swedish group’s flagship application and on a separate application, the service allowed users to create or join chat rooms based on their interests, take part in conversations or simply listen to them.
The end of the creators’ fund announced in an email
The announcement of Greenroom was made in conjunction with that of the implementation of a creators’ fund. The goal of it was to compensate creators of audio content in the United States and help them earn an income from their work on the platform. Thanks to him, Spotify hopes to attract more listeners and creators to its platform. It is through a simple registration form that users could claim this remuneration.
Spotify announced the end of the program by an email sent to people who completed the registration form. ” The Creator Fund program is evolving alongside our live audio strategies and will move towards new initiatives for content creators. We look forward to telling you more in the future. “, explains the company to TechCrunch.
When the service was released, the frequently asked questions indicated the start of the first payments for the summer of 2021. In March 2022, the latter announced that the creator fund would start “in 2022”. Nothing says that the fund has ever donated money to a creator.
A bit too late for Spotify
Spotify missed the mark of live audio platforms. If the service has not met with the expected success, it is because it was launched on the market after the pandemic and the periods of confinement, when the craze around audio conversation spaces like Club House began to run out of steam.
Greenroom did not interest as many people as expected. According to data from Sensor Tower, the iOS app was downloaded a total of 275,000 times after the Betty Labs takeover. With the addition of Locker Room, the application tentatively reaches 295,000 downloads worldwide. On the Android side, the app has had greater success, but the number of active users remains unclear.
Nevertheless, the feature is still present on the Spotify Live app and within its big sister Spotify. It has been simplified and offers a list of programs and shows with celebrities such as Dev Lemons, Swedish House Mafia or Hasan Minhaj. To see if making the service easier to access will be enough to attract a second wave of users.