LinkedIn’s Clubhouse-inspired Audio Events is officially getting the axe. Starting December 2, 2024, you won’t be able to create new native audio-only events. The company is merging its Audio Events and LinkedIn Live into a single feature, with a stronger focus on third-party streaming tools. Audio Events was used for panels, Q&A sessions, and community engagement, offering flexibility and low technical requirements compared to video-based events.
While no official reason for the discontinuation has been provided, LinkedIn has been shifting its focus toward enhancing other creator tools and features. This decision seems tied to the difficulty of keeping users engaged in the crowded live audio market, where tech companies have experienced mixed levels of success in recent years.
Back in the pandemic days, audio-only apps like Clubhouse had a massive surge in popularity, and companies scrambled to copy the trend. Twitter (now X), Facebook, Spotify, Reddit, and even LinkedIn joined the race with their own versions. Fast forward a few years, and most of these features are gone. Facebook shut down its Live Audio Rooms, Reddit ditched Talk, and Spotify"s Greenroom is basically a ghost town. Surprisingly, X is the last major player holding on, with Spaces still kicking .
With LinkedIn Live, audio events are no longer truly "audio-only." You’ll need to stream through tools like Restream or Streamyard and slap on a static image if you don’t want to show video. The shift is framed as a simplification, but for many, it’s LinkedIn acknowledging that standalone audio events never really caught on.
For those planning audio-only events, you’ll need to move to this hybrid setup before the year ends. And if you"re nostalgic for the pure audio era, X might be your last refuge in the mainstream. For now, it seems LinkedIn is ready to focus on features with broader appeal while quietly retiring this pandemic-era experiment.