Digital

AOL Music is wound up

By | Published on Monday 29 April 2013

AOL Music

AOL Music is no more, though we know this – as is so often the case with shuttered businesses these days – from the tweets of fired executives rather than any official statement.

Word that some serious downsizing was underway at the US music division of the internet firm first came via the Twitter feed of Spinner, part of the AOL Music offering since 1999. The tweet, deleted soon after, read: “Hey guys. Just found out from AOL that we’re shutting down. Today is our last day. Seriously”. Spinner Editor Dan Reilly then tweeted from his personal account: “Well, we all just got laid off. AOL Music is finished”.

Quite what the line “AOL Music is finished” actually means in terms of which of the web company’s services will be shutdown isn’t clear, as we wait official confirmation, though insiders say other music news sites operated by the firm, including The BoomBox, The Boot and Noisecreep, will also go. Though AOL Radio will remain, with that service’s Programme Director Thomas Chau tweeting: “AOL Radio will continue but everyone I work with will be unemployed as of today”.

Very much like Yahoo, AOL was an early innovator in online music, offering a combination of news, streaming content and exclusives, but soon lost ground after the rise of iTunes, the launch of free-to-access websites by traditional music media, and the growth of the music blogosphere. The British side of those music operations were always smaller, and were axed sooner, with AOL Music UK being wound up in 2011.



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