AOL Closes Music Division, Spinner Website, Lays Off Staff
By Gilbert Falso :: 3:35 PM
AOL has closed its music business, AOL Music, including the music news and information website Spinner.com.
Staff of the music division were notified this afternoon of the closure. Just before 3:00 PM. the Twitter account for Spinner.com Tweeted, “Hey guys. Just found out from AOL that we’re shutting down. Today is our last day. Seriously.” That Tweet has since been deleted.
Spinner had originally been founded as an Internet radio website in the 90s. It was acquired by AOL in the summer of 1999. In 2002, AOL joined Spinner with Netscape’s portal product to form Netscape Radio.
During its heyday, Spinner broadcasted over 100 radio stations. Five years ago, AOL revamped the website from an Internet radio station to a music and entertainment site, geared toward the music aficionado audience. Since then, the website offered interviews with recording artists, audio and video streams of albums and live performances, and music downloads.
Dan Reilly, editor at Spinner confirmed the closure and layoffs on his Twitter account. “Well, we all just got laid off. AOL Music is finished,” he said at 2:46 PM. See additional Tweets below.
AOL has not yet publicly addressed the closure of the music division, or the layoffs.
Sitting in an HR meeting right now, trying to negotiate keeping our computers for a few more days.
— Dan Reilly (@danreilly11) April 26, 2013
Well, at least I found a good reason to finish off the whiskey at my desk.
— Dan Reilly (@danreilly11) April 26, 2013