Spotify Welcomes Developers with Apps and an Open Platform
posted Sunday Dec 4, 2011 by Nicholas DiMeo
Just a few short months after Spotify launched in the US, it was already running into a couple of hiccups, outside of getting enough subscribers to the service. Independent and smaller music label talent were both pulling their songs out of the service, claiming that the artists were not making enough off of each song play. To respond, Spotify has tried to make amends with the affected artists.
Outside of that realm, however, the new streaming company has tried to make a name by teaming up with other companies to show off cool demos and even appearing on our beloved WinPho 7.
So what's next for Spotify? This week, the company announced that it will start to open its music-laden arms to developers, asking them to create apps and other things to distance Spotify from the pack of other new music streaming companies out there, like Google Music.
Spotify expects this announcement to really propel the company as the invitation is open to any developer with the urge to lay down some code in the treble cleft. Apps will still have to be approved and Chief Executive Daniel Ek said that the approval process would be similar to that of Apple's, which is kind of scary.
It's going to be more like the Apple model. We want to make sure the quality of the apps we get in is really, really high.
This helps the problem that has been plaguing Spotify from the beginning, which is the way users can quickly find music they want to listen to, without having to search for a specific artist or song. If Pandora can use a "Smart DJ" type service, so can Spotify.
The apps created will be made available to both the paid and non-paying members of the community, but for now, will only work on computers. Smartphone capability isn't completely ruled out, but it won't be happening at launch. There is rumor though that we will see apps like an RSS feed for a particular playlist, that will automatically update with new music for you. Another detail we were made aware of is that, as expected, the apps will only work within Spotify's platform and won't export to other sites or programs. There won't be any copying of music to other services.
The question is, can this make Spotify the place to be for all things music? I've been a huge advocate for them since the inception of the idea that they'd be coming over State-side and would hate to see them fall in line with the rest of the not-so-great streaming services. If they play their cards right, Spotify could knock off the Google, Amazon and Last.fms of the industry and take the top spot, but first, you need subscribers. It's time to shine, Spotify.