What are we doing?

On February 16th, we’ll change how listeners outside the US and Canada tune into 8tracks.

We’ll no longer stream from 8tracks’ servers to listeners outside the US and Canada; instead, we’ll offer the ability to tune into playlists on the 8tracks website via YouTube video playback. Unfortunately, listeners outside the US and Canada will no longer be able to stream playlists through the 8tracks iOS and Android apps.

Your 8tracks profile and any playlists you’ve made will not be affected and you’ll continue to be able to stream any playlists with tracks you’ve personally uploaded. All of your playlists will continue to be accessible to listeners anywhere our content is available around the world. You will still be able to make and share playlists with everyone, however, your personal listening experience may be limited depending on which country you are in.

Eventually, we plan to offer listeners outside the US and Canada the ability to tune into all 8tracks playlists through an on-demand streaming partner’s website and native mobile apps.

Beyond this on-demand partnership, we’re working to ensure 8tracks’ long-term success as a stand-alone global platform for everyone to enjoy.

Why are we doing this now?

In the US and Canada, 8tracks pays royalties to local collection societies for every track we stream. While we’ve neither actively marketed nor directly monetized 8tracks outside the US and Canada, we’re now seeking direct, global deals with record labels to ensure we’ve a solution for mix creation that extends to anyone who has the passion and knowledge to curate amazing playlists.

In the future, we’ll revamp and streamline mix creation and extend this experience to our native mobile apps. Because most people don’t have many local music files on their phones, we’re preparing for a future in which you can easily access millions of tracks from our growing music library (thanks to direct licensing deals).

In order to ensure 8tracks’ existence for years to come, we’ve concluded — at least for now — that delivering our programming to listeners outside the US and Canada through a licensed on-demand partner is the best path forward. We remain committed to bringing 8tracks to a global audience so all can join us in creating and discovering playlists for every taste, time and place.