Spotify coming to Groove Music Pass customers

[Rorey]

What’s happening to the Groove Music Pass?

As of December 31, 2017, the Groove Music Pass streaming service will be discontinued and Groove Music Pass music will no longer be available. The built-in Groove music player will continue to play all your owned (local) and OneDrive music files, but will no longer stream Groove Music Pass content.

For those that stream Groove Music Pass content, don’t worry! We’ve partnered with them so anyone currently using the Groove Music service can transfer their music collection to a new or existing Spotify account and continue enjoying the music streaming experience.

How do I transfer my Groove Music collection to Spotify? 

From October 9, 2017, Groove Music Pass subscribers will be able to transfer existing music collections and playlists they created to Spotify with just a few easy steps:

1. Open Groove Music on an up-to-date Windows 10 PC or Xbox One. You’ll automatically be prompted to transfer your music to Spotify.
2. Follow the on-screen steps to create a Spotify Free account or log into an existing Spotify account and then transfer your music to it. Your music will be available for transfer until January 31, 2018. 

If you’re not prompted to transfer your music, check:

1. You have the latest version of the Groove Music app. This requires you to be on the Anniversary Update (or newer) of Windows 10.
2. You have (or have had) a Groove Music Pass trial or subscription. 

To manually transfer your music, go to Settings in Groove Music and select Move my music to Spotify. It’s not possible to transfer your Groove Music collection on a mobile device, or using an Xbox 360.  

I'm a current Groove Music Pass subscriber, will I get a refund?

Monthly Groove Music Pass subscribers are eligible for a refund for the remainder of their subscription if they cancel before December 31, 2017. Refund eligibility will be determined by your next billing date and the unused time already paid for on the monthly subscription.

If you paid for an annual pass or prepaid subscription card, you’re eligible for a refund of the remainder of your subscription, either when the subscription is canceled, or on December 31st 2017, whichever comes first.

All Groove Music Pass refunds are processed by Microsoft. To request one, or for more information, we recommend contacting Microsoft.

Will my Groove Music Pass subscription automatically transfer to Spotify?

Your subscription won’t automatically transfer over to Spotify. To convert a monthly Groove Music Pass subscription to a Spotify Premium subscription, you first need to transfer your Groove Music collection to a new or existing Spotify account. To do this, simply open Groove Music on an up-to-date Windows 10 PC or Xbox One and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you create a new Spotify account, you’ll start out on the Spotify Free service. Once you’ve transferred your Groove Music collection to Spotify, you’ll automatically receive a 60-day free trial for Spotify Premium when you upgrade. Remember to cancel your existing Groove Music Pass subscription if you move to Spotify before December 31st, 2017.

If you’ve claimed a trial offer with Spotify before, or if you were previously subscribed to Spotify Premium, then you won’t be eligible to claim the 60-day free trial. For more information, check out the 60-day trial terms and conditions.

How much does Spotify cost after the 60-day free trial?

Spotify has a number of different subscription options available. Check them out and choose the one that’s right for you.

 

How do I receive a 60-day free trial for Spotify Premium?

If you’re a Groove Music Pass subscriber and you transfer your music to Spotify before December 31, 2017, you’ll automatically receive a 60-day free trial for Spotify Premium when you upgrade from Spotify Free.

If you don’t receive your 60-day free trial offer, first check if you’re eligible. If you are, contact us and we’ll help.

What happens to my music after I move it to Spotify?

All the music that has a match in Spotify will appear in your Spotify library and playlists. All your purchased or uploaded music will remain untouched in the built-in Groove Music app. Groove Music Pass content will continue to be playable until December 31, 2017. Music in OneDrive and on your hard drive will be untouched and continue to be playable through the built-in Groove Music app.

I can’t find all my music from Groove after moving my collection to Spotify.

We do our best to preserve your collection and playlists when moving them, but there may be some cases where we can’t find a matching song in our catalog. A list of the songs we are unable to move can be found in a file on your computer named spotify_migration.txt. The file is in your music library folder, which for most users is found at C:\users\[username]\Music\ (also known as %userprofile%\Music\).

Any music in your OneDrive and on your hard drive will be untouched and remain playable through the built-in Groove Music app.

Heads up: Only playlists you created will be moved to Spotify. Any editorial playlists you’ve saved from the Groove Explore page will not be moved, so we recommend you add those songs to a new playlist before moving your music to Spotify.

 

I’m not a Groove Music Pass subscriber. How does this affect me?

Nothing will change for you. You can continue to play your owned (local), OneDrive, or purchased content through the built-in Groove Music app. But, if you want to streams music from Spotify’s catalog of over 30 million songs at no cost, check out Spotify Free.

Will I still be able to play local files or music I’ve purchased?

Yes. Songs you’ve purchased can still be streamed and downloaded to your Windows devices, provided they’re still available in the Groove Music catalog. Owned (local) files on any of your devices will still be playable in the built-in Groove Music app, which will remain available on both iOS and Android.

 

Does this mean I should backup all my purchased music?

There will likely be a decrease in the size of Groove Music’s catalog. To be on the safe side, we recommend downloading any tracks you’ve previously purchased and store them in OneDrive to ensure you don’t lose access to them.

 

[SomeOneStupid]

Where is an UWP app? Using Spotify desktop client on surface pro is a mess ... I do not even consider about going to Spotify without a decent UWP app!

[noentity]

Interesting. What are the chances of a high end spotify\ Microsoft speaker getting developed with voice assistant and HiFi sound to take on apple homepod et al?

[SomeOneStupid]

You mean something like this? ... http://www.harmankardon.com/invoke.html

I think chances are high .... 😉

[user-removed]

This isn't going to work without a UWP app for Windows 10. It blows my mind that Spotify would go to the trouble of releasing separate apps for Windows 10 desktop and Xbox One instead of using the UWP so that it could run on desktop, mobile and console. My wife and I have been Music Pass subscribers for years. The legacy Windows Phone app won't even load on Windows 10 Mobile. As for feature parity, Spotify isn't even close to Groove. Switching back and forth between Groove and Spotify to play my catalog or a streaming catalog? Is this the kind of service that Spotify provides for other platforms? If so, Groove has been sorely underappreciated by the masses. Why would I even consider using Spotify? 

[ColdCrushKlutz]

I'd consider switching to Amazon music. It's what I'm doing. They have a feature allowing you to upload music to a personal "drive" for streaming, much like OneDrive. They have a mobile/desktop app *heavily* influenced by the OG Zune software (you'll see what I mean if you've used it). And best of all, if you're a student, Amazon has a "6 months for $6" deal--that's six full months for a total of six dollars. Not a bad trial run. I'm looking to use the Spotify playlist transfer and a text playlist export to move my playlists over. I'm serously salty over this whole shuttering of Microsofts music services though. I've been a loyal Zune-er since the OG Zune and a Pass user since it was announced with the monthly 10 credits. 

[xal1983]

I tried the new "migration process". Everything seemed ok but when I open Spotify I get an error...

C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\SpotifyAB.SpotifyMusic_1.64.403.0_x86__zpdnekdrzrea0\SpotifyMigrator.exe

The data area passed to a system call is too small.

Spotify just won't start.

[Shanigans]

I like many users, use the groove pass due to the POOR customer support that you supply to the windows 10 moblie platform. YOU MUST update the app before i will even consider paying for your service. saying that i finaly got your app to work on my Xbox one and i must say, you have ALOT of work to do to even come close to what Groove was offering users (video support is one thing that springs to mind). I'm assuming that this merger has been in the pipe line for a long time, yet you have given us Windows users nothing to even want to move to you.

[HowardHoffman]

I am an existing Groove Streaming customer and am seeking to convert my playlists, etc., to my an existing Spotify account.  I've registered in Spotify using my Facebook identity.  

I'm having a lot of trouble moving my Groove stuff to Spotify. 

I use the Windows 10 Groove app to try to convert.  I just updated that app yesterday, and am totally current on all Windows 10 updates, including those released in October 2017.  I open the updated Groove Store app and select the 'Move' option.  When prompted to create a Spotify account or to login to an existing Spotify account I try to login to my existing Spotify account.  In the login dialog I select Login with Facebook.  There it fails - consistently.  Instead of prompting me for my Facebook credentials the login screen flashes by really quickly and then I get a 'service unavailable' error before I can select or do anything...and a suggestion to try again.

I've rebooted my machine several times (thinking maybe there was a network problem) as well as attempted a dozen times or so between last night and this morning.

It feels like something is fundamentally broken or disconnected in the Groove / Spotify / Facebook handshake here.  I do wish to convert my Groove Playlists, etc., to Spotify -- perhaps even to purchase Spotify Premium / Family.   

How should I proceed?

[Ozziesterling]

Similar issue on the Xbox one. I say move to Spotify and it says Login to Spotify. I hit all buttons but it just sits on that screen. Is the transfer software just not ready yet? What is going on? 

[snakebittenbum]

how can i get the 10000 songs and artists on my windows phone spotify? none of my years long collection is on my mobile spotify from groove and i transferred them on my pc. plus, spotify sucks, it constantly reloads.. hate it so far. i need my music to play on my phone, wt heck, man?

[HowardHoffman · Accepted solution]

I ultimately got it to work.  

In my case it was a HOSTS file edit.  On Windows I use the mvps.org tool to block ads — it adds a slew of entries to HOSTS that wipe out ad sites.  Sometimes one of these ad network sites is used by non-ad software.  I imagine either Spotify or Facebook has web sites that are both ad servers and authentication routing servers.  

When I restored my HOSTS to the Windows default, everything worked.

Good luck.

[xal1983]

In my case the solution was to uninstall the app through the store and manually download the installer from the website. Once installed from there everything worked.

[PetnPlace]

I have a Windows 10 desktop, a Windows 10 mobile, and a Android moble.  Today, 10/12/17, I have both Spotify and Groove running on all three devices.  All my playlists transferred to Spotify without any problem.  

The Windows' mobile Spotify doesn't have a home icon at the bottom of the display. That's to bad.  The Spotify app is better at placing placing songs in offline mode.

 I'm still triying to learn the Spotify app.

[alanbradwell]

I would welcome any assistance, from the community. Like you all, I have had the message to move to Spotify. OK, not the end of the world...except I have a laptop that is running Windows 7 Professional, not Windows 10, so I can’t transfer my Groove catalog to Spotify. 

I contacted Spotify twice & they unfortunately haven’t been of much use, just directing me here, in stead of actually helping. 

Many assistance that could be offered, will be gratefully received. Many thanks. 

[PetnPlace]

The computer I have didn't come witth Windows 10.  I upgraded to it.  I would see if Windows 7 can be upgraded to 10.

[Machiventa858]

alanbradwell - is there any way you can use someone's Windows 10 pc? I was able to use my work pc to transfer my library and playlists.

[alanbradwell]

Thanks for the message. The laptop could be updated to Windows 10, butnit wiuld Cody me somewhere in the region of £150, for the new software. Seems like Microsoft or Spotify have been very specific about who can transfer their catalog. I suspect that they’re going to lose a lot of customers, who don’t have Windows 10

[Machiventa858]

Not a happy Groove customer here at all! And now not a happy Spotify customer as well. Ugh.

It took me about 5 tries to initiate the transfer of my library and playlists due to the Groove app crashing which has been a problem for me since the launch of Win10. I was forced to use the web player for the past couple years. 

Finally after a very frustrating experience transfering my library I was able to give Spotify a try. Wow, what another frustrating experience! No clear queue? And you can't shuffle the queue? WTH!? Never heard of either of those. Are they bugs, missing features, or what? Can't upload my local files? I would think MS would pick a partner with a similar platform of features. 10,000 song limit to my library? WTH!? For a service that has millions of songs I would think they could at least allow what the other services typically let you add which is usually 50,000 songs. 

I think I'll see if I can transfer my playlists to Google Music which I've been testing out and love, and be done with Spotify after my trial. 

[kiwidoc]

Welcome to an inferior platform.

After the hassle of switching over (requiring help desk to convert my family from the USA to NZ to get them added to family pass - couldn;t do it from account setting) I discover a realm of inferiority.

No video,

No full screen artist art rotating, just static album art in a sea of gray in fullscreen mode.

No live tile on desktop.

No mini mode

10000 song limit in library - what the F&^% is that about. Jesus wept.

3333 limit downloads to a device - ditto above.

Have to make an album a playlist before you can download it on desktop.

5 clicks to select only play local content (ie swtich to offline mode)

A desktop interface tat looks like itunes from 2012.

No album info.

Can't filter my collection by genre

No ability to selct album or artist with quick alphabet selection.

Can't search my library in offline mode (mobile app)

I hope improves, but so far this is a big step down in useability and quality.

Suggest you repackage the groove app to work with spotify.