Developers building apps using Spotify’s API have been getting to grips with some big changes this month, restricting what data they can access, as well as limiting the number of users their apps can have.
“Over time, advances in automation and AI have fundamentally altered the usage patterns and risk profile of developer access, and at Spotify’s current scale these risks now require more structured controls,” is how Spotify explained the changes, which came into effect yesterday (11 February).
A list of what those developers *can’t* now access reveals the scope of the changes. Among the ‘endpoints’ removed are the ability to create playlists for users; get information on artists’ top tracks; and save albums and tracks to users’ libraries.
News site Headphonesty has an unimpressed take on these and other recent API restrictions, claiming that they are leaving “a trail of dead applications” including “genre visualizations, niche artist discovery engines, and mood-based playlist builders” as well as “collaborative playlist tools, friends’ listening features, and sharing integrations”.
It is true that Spotify is facing up to some recent challenges around access to its data though. Witness the pre-Christmas scraping of its library and accompanying announcement by the Anna’s Archive website that it would be releasing a huge stash of metadata and audio for anyone to download.
Spotify – together with the three major labels – is now suing Anna’s Archive over that, although this week TorrentFreak reported that the site has “silently begun releasing the actual music files” anyway.
So, the risks are real, but Spotify’s challenge is to balance tightening up its security while still enabling external developers to build creative and innovative apps with its API. Not every new feature idea can come from within.
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