Spotify will be discontinuing the lightweight listening app station on May 16. Spotify hasn’t elaborated on the move but has asked users to move all their favourite stations to the main Spotify app and continue listening to them.
The station first launched in Australia in 2018 and later in the United States in 2019 to offer easy access to curated playlists for a radio-like experience. Spotify station is appealing to those who prefer a simpler user interface, especially with the support for instant music playback.
Spotify has been making improvements to its app for ages and probably the station’s shutdown will make room for the video podcasting option that the company has been working on since 2020
Spotify is leaning towards visual content and its recent move to introduce the video option confirms it. The company said, “Visual interactions allow fans to get to know their favourite podcast hosts even better, and allow creators to connect with their audiences in a much deeper way. But if you want to stick to the pure audio experience, that’s great too. video on Spotify is background able for all listeners, so you can immerse yourself in the content when you want to, or simply lean back and just listen.”
“At Spotify, we routinely conduct a number of experiments to create better-listening experiences for our users,” a spokesperson for Spotify said in a statement to TechCrunch. “Some of those tests end up paving the way for our broader user experience and others serve only as an important learning. Our Spotify Stations Beta was one of those tests. We will be sunsetting the current feature, but users will be able to easily transfer their favourite stations and enjoy a similar radio experience directly within the Spotify app.”
As reported by TechCrunch, the Stations app disappeared from both the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store on Friday, but the app itself seems to be functional for the time being to allow current users to move their stations to the main app.
The company is dedicated to making improvements to its app and there’s a likelihood of more changes in the future. They recently announced live audio capabilities from its companion app, Spotify Greenroom, within the main Spotify streaming app. Greenroom will also rebrand as “Spotify Live” as part of these changes. At launch, Spotify’s main app will only feature live content from select original programming, while the standalone Spotify Live app will continue to allow independent creators to go live.