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. 

[ribezaz]

wow

[holamau]

@squirreltoken they didn't announce a replacement, and based on the fact that they have not addressed any concerns in this thread, in pure Spotify fashion, they will probably, most definitely not have a replacement for these features in the API

[holamau]

@ribezaz I don't see the `/s` here anywhere. What new updates/features are you referring to? 

[moishs]

Hi Loneliest_Cabin,

In the last few months, I’ve been working on an app designed to assist DJs in building cohesive sets by analyzing track features, analysis and waveforms. The app aimed to find similar tracks based on their audio characteristics, helping users create smoother transitions and perfect mixes. It was also intended to include additional DJ-focused tools, such as mixing suggestions and set organization.

As a DJ myself, I built this app around Spotify’s audio features and analysis endpoints, which provided the essential data needed to compare tracks and make these recommendations. However, with the recent changes to the API, this functionality is no longer available, leaving the app unable to fulfill its primary purpose.

It’s frustrating to see such a critical part of the API removed without warning, especially since there isn’t a comparable source for this type of data.

If there’s any information about alternative solutions or plans to bring back this data in the future, I’d be grateful to hear about it. For now, I’ll need to rethink how to proceed, but I wanted to share this experience in case others are facing similar challenges.

Thanks for your time.

[DataGhost]

@ribezaz are you a bot or did you just not care to read anything in this announcement? There is nothing to "be using".

[holamau]

@DataGhost, yup... sounds like they are here quickly commenting anything just to keep their "Star" status going

[zafark]

Is there any way for university students to get a week extension? I am in the midst of a capstone project that utilize this API for its core functionality

[homebrewprod]

Hi

VERY sad to see related artists go. Spent alot of time on this and was about to go into production.

[Railton_]

Agree with all the other comments, this sucks.  For sure removing these APIs has nothing to do with security.  How can Spotify's API to get audio features be any less secure then their API to get track information.

I don't see any response from Spotify despite over 250 complaints from developers who have had their apps ruined.  Turning these APIs off with no notice and no alternative is totally unacceptable.

[Neumann_]

I think their point is to remove any API that would expose their "algorithm", to prevent anyone from training AI models by scrapping these endpoints.

[DataGhost]

That is extra stupid because people who really want to do that can and will always be able to just scrape these from the web player using e.g. their browser debugger, from the desktop app using screen captures, or similar techniques bypassing the API. This just made life more difficult for legitimate developers with legitimate use cases.

[holamau]

@DataGhost, I'm with you. They could have applied data limits, they could've done so many things, but chose the cheapest one.

[profxanda]

I appreciate that this was a free service, and don't want to act like supporting this service is easy or owed to the world -- but not having a warning on this is pretty rough! I am a college professor teaching a project-based course where students have frequently opted to build projects with the Spotify API under the assumption it's well-established and would be transparent if it were changing. Many of my class project teams just had their final projects break irrevocably two weeks before they were due because they relied on deprecated functionality. It's pretty bad optics for a lot of computer science students who would have been excited to work for Spotify to have such a textbook "how not to run a tech platform" moment play out with such high stakes!

[joke4me]

Catastrophic way of handling developer experience, shows Spotify isn't committed to third party developers

[tyrfro]

I have no idea, why you block this API's, but there have to be some reason for it. 
In IT world most go for share as much as possible, so other people can have help with it as well, but Spotify go the othere way.

 I can have understanding that it's cose of to many api-calls per day in total, but it have to be more easy to put a limit to that and charge if you want to have more api--calls. But close it down? 

20 years ago i partner up with a other company and they took all my knowledge and started up it themself a few years later, i really hope this is not what Spotify is doing now, look at users good apps around the world and then copy them for sale inside program for a $, then i at least will stop my payment. 

So for what ever reason is, it have to be some solution to start this api up again? Charge for them for all i care. 

[sylvesta]

Over 100,000 (one-hundred thousand) songs hit Spotify daily.  Spotify tweets about 3 artists once every four months.  Is this enough to get ahead of the tide of the tsunami of fresh music?  What do you guys think.

Independent devs are happy to work for free to help the masses discover the best fresh new music.  Why turn this feature off only God knows.

[joaointech]

Hey everyone,

I know these changes have been tough—I felt it too when my projects stopped working. So, I built SoundLens.pro, a replacement API with endpoints like Related Artists and Recommendations. It’s not as fast or polished as Spotify’s API, but I developed it independently without using their data.

It’s still growing, and I’d love for you to check it out and join the community to help improve it. Together, we can keep creating and innovating.

Soundlens.pro

[joaointech]

I know these changes have been tough—I felt it too when my projects stopped working. So, I built SoundLens.pro, a replacement API with endpoints like Related Artists and Recommendations. It’s not as fast or polished as Spotify’s API, but I developed it independently without using their data.

It’s still growing, and I’d love for you to check it out and join the community to help improve it. Together, we can keep creating and innovating.

Soundlens.pro

[Railton_]

Does anyone have a workaround for getting the track tempo?  Thanks.

[Karnay]

This looks like something I am looking for! I will try it with my app. I needed the danceability and this is what you provide as well. Thanks and good luck!