Spotify's new API terms are a major blow to third-party apps

Key Takeaways

• Spotify joins Reddit and YouTube in tightening control over third-party apps, impacting developers who relied on these features for their services.
• The company is restricting third-party developers from accessing user data and its recommendation features, including listening habits and audio analysis.
• The platform’s recent API changes aim to enhance security but also prevent developers from building AI music recommendation models that compete with Spotify’s own.

Most popular apps no longer believe sharing is caring. You might remember the Reddit API changes from last year, which dramatically altered the prices and rules associated with accessing its API. The changes were so drastic that free third-party Reddit apps disappeared, and popular alternatives had to start charging users. YouTube also made changes to its API rules, shutting down third-party apps that allowed users to bypass ads. Now, you can add Spotify to the list as well, as the platform recently announced it will no longer allow third-party apps to access its recommendation features.

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Spotify announced in a developer blog post on Wednesday that it’s putting limits on third-party developers who want to build AI apps using data from its listeners (via TechCrunch). The company will be cutting off access to info about what Spotify users are listening to, including the artists and songs popular among different listener groups. Developers will also lose access to Spotify’s Audio Analysis, which breaks down a track’s structure and rhythm, and Audio Features, which cover things like a song’s energy, and whether it’s acoustic.

Spotify also cut access for developers to its algorithmically-created playlists. The company says these changes are meant to make the platform more secure. But it's important to note that these changes will stop developers from creating AI music recommendation models that compete with the ones Spotify has been working on in recent years.

Third-party developers are disappointed

The developers who were building apps with the features Spotify just cut off aren’t exactly happy about it. One developer mentioned on the Spotify community forum that they were working on an app that relied on the exact features and data Spotify revoked access to and now they’re stuck. “There is nowhere else to get data like this out there, so you've effectively just destroyed the last few months of work for me,” they added.

Many others have also asked on the forum for the company to reconsider these changes and maybe bring back access to those features once the security issues are sorted out.

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