As we reach the end of the decade, there are many things that we have to say goodbye to. Unfortunately, the music streaming service 8tracks has become one of them, as they’ve announced that their journey has reached an end. Widely known as the social network of music streaming, 8tracks is shutting down after 11 memorable years.
Founder David Porter always strived for a “music-oriented social network” in his creation. Before its launch in 2008, Porter stated the program was even in the works during his college days back in 1999.
“To state it simply, we’re shutting down because we can’t generate enough revenue, at our current scale, to cover royalties that continue to increase.”
What exactly made 8tracks different than the streaming services we have today? The name speaks for itself, as the site revolved around music playlists consisting of – you guessed it – 8 tracks. Users were able to easily create and share their own 8-track playlists with one another. This created a simple and fun way to share music with friends and family. During their prime, 8tracks was listed on Time magazine’s 2011 “50 Best Websites” List”.
“… the path to the grave has been well-trodden by many digital music startups these last 20 years.”
In 8tracks’ official blog post, they give a couple of reasons for their decision. First, they admit that they’re unable to generate enough revenue, partially due to “the music industry”. It’s also been reported that the corporation was unable to find another company interested in purchasing them. In all, the competition among streaming services today is intense, and unfortunately the desire for 8-track playlists is not what it used to be.
Those who have 8tracks accounts will apparently not need to worry about losing their playlists forever. In their statement, the company states that users will be able to grab the metadata from their playlists and recreate them on another streaming platform. Do note, the site will be shut down as the clock hits January 1st, 2020.
You can read 8tracks’ full blog post here.