Changes to Web API

[Loneliest_Cabin]

Folks, some news on changes to the web API has been posted on the Spotify For Developers blog.

We want to reiterate the main message from the blog that we're committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all Spotify stakeholders. As such we have recently made some important changes related to access to some of our endpoints and functionality. You can read the details on the blog: https://developer.spotify.com/blog/2024-11-27-changes-to-the-web-api

We are here to listen to any feedback you may have. 

[captainbrocard]

I've been teaching analytics and data science for 10 years. For thousands of my students, Spotify has been their first exposure to learning how to interact with an API. So much enthusiasm for the discipline has been nurtured over the years with the help of this resource, resulting in many creative projects being pursued and innovative tools being created. Many current students have final projects relying on the API right now, only to have it swept out from under them unexpectedly at the end of the academic term.

I understand this is the direction Spotify wants to take, but a lot of good will could have been retained had a simple announcement been made instructing developers of the impending change with enough time to more appropriately conclude or migrate projects to other services. 

I'm sure it is a small consolation to anyone devastated by this change--including my own students--but there is a lesson to be learned here; don't trust in something you have no ownership or control over, even if it is provided by one of your (formerly) favorite brands.

[LunarEchoes]

My app was just denied because it included last.fm integration, despite not using any streams from last.fm, just metadata.

I made a post about it here, really gutted.

[holamau]

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@captainbrocard wrote:

don't trust in something you have no ownership or control over

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This is it. On top of that, don't run a a business on top of anything you don't own or control. If your business model can't find a reliable backup for any service you use, give it a second thought because you may end up crashing down to the ground.

You are also spot on about the announcement. They knew the API was heavily used and relied on. The fact that they just did it and said "oh by the way, this is gone" as opposed to the more empathetic way of giving a heads up, it shows how badly they care for their users and their developer community. 

Even calling it 'deprecated' is completely wrong. when you first deprecate a feature or API, that's the way to let their users know it is on its way out... deprecating doesn't mean "gone", it means it's about to be retired... which, again, shows how little they care. 

Playing with the API was a hobby for me, one that kept me building little pet projects to help me keep learning front-end tech. And now it's gone. While I am just salty, I just can't imagine being one of your students, or anyone who was neck-deep in a project relying on this once-great API.

[Nayrode]

I just need the songs tempo for my dj app ...

any idea how to find that without the audio feature endpoint ?

[ThePodfather]

We appreciate all the feedback regarding the recent changes to the Spotify for Developers API. We recognize the impact these updates have had on many of you and appreciate the time and effort you’ve taken to share your thoughts. 

To clarify some points in our update: applications with approved integrations remain unaffected by these changes and will continue to operate as expected with their API access unchanged. However, new and unapproved applications will no longer have access to the deprecated endpoints. It’s also important to note that gaining extended mode access will not restore or provide access to the closed endpoints.

For more details on the changes, please refer to the Changes to Web API Blog Post.

[Kalpik]

lol

[fetimo]

@Nayrode Check out https://cyanite.ai , it's an API which provides this data. It's a bit more fiddly than the Spotify API though.

[IdahoDJ]

To clarify, those that were already in the cue for an extension requests before Nov 27, assuming it's approved, will have access to those endpoints, correct?

Also, if the request gets rejected and we have to make changes and re-apply, will that be grandfathered in?

[Karnay]

@ThePodfather Sorry, but most people here are understanding the change but even in the blog there are not many information. Can spotify at least tell the people if the data these endpoints provided will be gone for ever or will there be a new Api endpoint?

And I can not understand how you say you want to support developers but just suddenly turn off the Api? Makes no sense to me to be honest. 

[egv0000106]

Hy folks,

I have a CLI tool to sort Spotify playlists inside Spotify, using the Camelot wheel rules (key & mode) and the BPM. Not working any more tanks to this change.

Spotify needs to check the request size limits, because I find out writing my tool that some endpoints like getting songs info, audio features, or writing data into playlist have inconsistent size limits. I recommend 25 or 50 song per request.

Hope you bring back the at least the audio features service back.

Give us that Christmas gift.

Regards.

[kingosticks4]

@thepodfather that's not a helpful post in the slightest. It might even be worse than nothing at all?

[dannebrog13]

All due respect, this is just a rehash of what we already know. It doesn't show any signs of listening to the concerns posed by the developer community, the hobbyists, and educators. It doesn't show any signs of understanding that people feel blind-sided by the decision, that there was no notice before things shut down. 

It would be great if you could take the feedback seriously, and perhaps address the concerns in concrete language, not vague language about security. It's obvious this is all in response to people scraping to train on LLM models. Fine, nobody begrudges that concern. We all know that this kind of activity ruins it for the rest. 

So solve *that* problem and maybe don't destroy what your developer community, hobbyists, and educators have built as essentially free advertising and product ambassadorship.

[djmacy]

Hey everyone,

I was holding out hope that this statement—"It’s also important to note that gaining extended mode access will not restore or provide access to the closed endpoints."—wouldn’t be definitive. Unfortunately, it seems that’s not the case, and I’m absolutely gutted.

With no replacement for these endpoints in the foreseeable future, I want to gather stories from developers to understand the full impact of these changes on our projects. If you’re willing to share your experience, please fill out this Google form: https://forms.gle/tyNNWcLtbw1miz3x6.

My goal is to highlight the challenges we’re facing as a community and explore potential solutions. Thanks for taking the time to share your story.

[Railton_]

Great idea, thanks.  I've completed the form.

[tylerhadx]

Well, there goes the christmas light show from the audio analysis endpoint. 

[sylvesta]

Dear ThePodfather

I come to you, On this day of your daughter's wedding, to ask you for a huge favor.

We worked on our application Remuse.co for many months and finally had something worth sharing with the community recently.  We applied for a quota on November 29th, because someone mentioned a support agent suggested applying for an extension as soon as possible.  We would really like to be granted extended quota access for our application and we implore you to consider.

[KhaleedhKhan]

My web application is also fully dependent on the FeaturedPlaylist API and Category Playlist functionality. These features are crucial to how our platform functions and deliver a core part of the user experience. Without them, we're facing significant disruptions in service.

I would greatly appreciate it if the team could consider bringing these features back or providing an update on when we can expect them to be available again.

[nikoalex2005]

@sebt13 The site doesn't even support HTTPS and its certificate looks quite fishy... What kind of malware site is this?

Edit: The comment I replied to got deleted 😄

[djmtype]

I've been sharing my playlists that contain Spotify's authored 30-sec preview url per track. After a 15+ years, it's been decided by Spotify's bureaucracy, this is no longer possible? 

[kingosticks4]

But the number one give away that the post was fake was they supported the changes. Only a scammer (or someone lacking brain cells) would leave such a comment!