Google axes another product, Play Artist Hub

Google Play Artist Hub was launched in 2012 and allowed smaller indie artists to upload and sell their music through the official Google Play store and Google Play Music service.

Google Play Artist Hub will shut down by April end. (AFP)

Google appears to have taken spring cleaning a little too aggressively. After Google+ and Inbox, the company is also shutting down its Google Play Artist Hub at the end of this month.

Google Play Artist Hub was launched in 2012 and allowed smaller indie artists to upload and sell their music through the official Google Play store and Google Play Music service.

New signups are no longer accepted on the service and existing members will not be able to upload or edit their music as of April 30, The Verge reported.

Artists will receive their final reports and payments from the service on May 31. By July 31, these reports will also be deleted entirely.

The demise of the service arrives as Google plans to push its main music offering, YouTube Music. Google has also announced that it will eventually replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music. Artists can sell music through YouTube partners.

Google launched YouTube Music along with YouTube Premium in India last month. YouTube Music is available in India at a monthly rate of ₹99 with one month free trial.