Important: App review and quota extension waiting times

[Nikola]

The Spotify for developers platform helps many bring their ideas to life. Whether it's a short term app helping an artist’s release or something more long term - there is always a chance of success. Things start to grow and then you might also need what we call a quota extension.

When you request a quota extension or you're simply waiting for your app to be reviewed, there is a follow up process that sets certain limits with the sole purpose of making things fair, better functioning and with an optimal level of user-experience quality.

During this process a few questions may arise. Such as:

• How long does it take to review my submission? 

During peak periods, it may take longer than six weeks. 

• Why does it take that long?

The review and extension request process is an iterative process. It is a matter of the developer and the Spotify team finding exactly where things need to be in order for the application to find its audience.

• What can I do as a developer to speed up the process? 

Make sure everything in your request is clear and correct, that you’re providing enough and correct information, adhering to Spotify’s developer terms, policies and design guidelines. If your request is rejected and needs to be resubmitted, an SLA of another 6 weeks will be applied after resubmission. Therefore the more attention and efforts you put into submitting a fully correct request from the beginning - the better are the chances that you will not have to resubmit and save precious time.

• An example of adhering to terms and conditions is our updated terms on using Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models (AI/LLM) when consuming the Spotify API. Since this is a new and emerging field, we felt it was important to update the Terms of Service to clarify that using Spotify data or information to train models is outside the scope of what the platform is built for.

• Does it help for me to reach out to other teams about this issue? 

It will not help a developer to try to reach out to other Spotify teams to get their request expedited or a question answered. We are the dedicated point of contact who can approve your request and involving other teams may actually interfere with the process. It's best to follow the instructions outlined above and you will receive an answer as soon as possible.

• What do I do if my submission gets rejected?

Don’t despair just yet. You will receive an email with applied rejection reasons, and further instructions on how (if) to proceed. Please make sure to read the email thoroughly to understand the reasons for rejection, and possible next steps. If a change can be made to be compliant, simply make the change and resubmit your request. As mentioned above - another review timeline of 6 weeks will be applied upon resubmission. You can navigate in the best way using the email and other applicable resources such as the Dev Terms, Dev Policy or Design Guidelines. 

Please keep in mind that if you’re waiting for an answer to an email you’ve sent us - our Developer email will not be monitored for an extended period during this summer. But it’s highly probable that your question will be answered by the topics covered above. You can also refer to the Spotify for developers general questions: 

- WebAPI Documentation

- App Modes

- Developer Terms

- Developer Policy

- Design Guidelines

- App Reviews Instructions

- Community Forum for specific questions

Thank you for your understanding and patience. Take care!

[bartubrt]

Hello, I applied 2 weeks ago, I applied from different accounts, but I still haven't received a return. When will I get a return?

[24archit]

Please Review my request. It is very urgent to me. I have a deadline

[alpistos]

After 100+ days, my application review request was rejected. Below are some of the reasons provided:

• You need to provide us with a fully working application that demonstrates all the core functionality. (You can share a public link to a beta version of your app in TestFlight)
  (The TestFlight validity period is 90 days, and I’ve long forgotten about it...)

• Metadata, cover art, and audio content must be accompanied by a Spotify logo and a link back to the applicable artist, album, track, or playlist on the Spotify Service (Design Guidelines)

• Modifies any Spotify visual content, e.g., cropping album artwork, overlaying images on album artwork, placing their brand/logo on album artwork (Design Guidelines)

They probably didn’t even watch the video I attached. Otherwise, there’s no way they wouldn’t notice the huge “Log in with Spotify” button and the fact that songs redirect to Spotify when clicked.

I’ll update my app and resubmit it. So, see you again in 100 days! lol

[2n1t3]

Hey there, I am creating a web app that relies on the Spotify API - I sent out this request for the quota extension, see attached image. 

How long should I wait for this? I need to release this app ASAP. This is the step that took ironically the longest between everything I did! 

PLEASE HELP ASAP, thanks

Plan

Paid / Developer 

Country

USA 

[talale]

Today i've received an answer for the request i sent exactly 2 month ago (26 september). My app was rejected.

Was it just an automatical response?
I thought about this because the reason was:

• You need to provide us with a fully working application that demonstrates all the core functionality

Obviously i had submitted the request sharing a test account, indicating email and password in the dedicated form section.
My request also included a PDF slideshow including the app description (even if it didn't have any screenshot from the app final version).

What should i do? Should i explain in detail how to navigate through the app and test it in the same field i insert login credentials? Should i create a new pdf with actual screenshots?

The app is still live at https://soundvertise.co

[DHM2]

Hi,

We’ve designed a feature to generate Spotify playlists for users and save them directly to Spotify. However, we need to switch our development mode to Quote Mode first. We submitted the request 4 weeks ago but haven’t received a response yet. Could you please check the status and provide an update?

Thank you!

[bartubrt]

I have been waiting for a long time and I have not received any return, it should not be so difficult to get an api, who will take care of us?

[henrynguyen7]

Just for others to know, after 3 months of waiting, my app was finally rejected for the reason that "Metadata, cover art, and audio content must be accompanied by a Spotify logo and a link back to the applicable artist, album, track, or playlist on the Spotify Service (Design Guidelines)", even though I tried my best to conform to this guideline before submitting my request.

The worst part is that not a single Spotify employee even logged into the app to take a look, which I can tell by looking at my server logs for the days leading up to the rejection. 

To put so much effort into an app only to have it rejected without even a passing glance from Spotify is disheartening, to say the least. Thankfully, my app is expandable to use other music services like Apple Music and YouTube music, so I'll be getting started on that immediately. But, as a word of warning to anyone else thinking about building an app to make use of the Spotify API, I would HIGHLY DISCOURAGE you from doing so and would instead recommend building for other music services instead. Good luck ✌️

[JammNatio]

Hi Henry

We are in same boat! Is there a YouTube API available? We might have to
start doing the same thing

[henrynguyen7]

Hey @JammNatio!

So I've read that YouTube's API is not as robust as some of the others (like Apple Music), but my use case is simple enough that I believe I'll be able to get the data I need from their YouTube v3 API for simply retrieving a user's liked videos: "developers (dot) google (dot) com (slash) youtube (slash) v3 (slash) docs (slash) videos (slash) list". 

(Sorry I have to obfuscate the URL or else Spotify's bots will remove it :))

I don't believe they have anything more data intensive the way other music providers do, though, unfortunately 😕

Good luck!!

Henry

[bartubrt]

Hello, I wonder if youtube music gives api?

[granteloupe]

Same thing happened to me. I also am authing in with a spotify account, so I don't know how to do a test account without giving them my spotify password. 

[alpistos]

Hello,

Our application, which we have been developing, has been fully ready for nearly 4 months, and we have been waiting for Spotify's approval of the quota extension request. However, this is the second rejection we have received. First of all, we would like to thank you for responding within three weeks.

However, we couldn’t fully understand why our application was rejected. We believe that the design complies with the guidelines, yet it has still been rejected. For this reason, we would like to seek assistance from the community and moderators.

Attached is a screenshot of our application. The Spotify backlink and logo are placed as required. Additionally, no album artwork is cropped, nor is any text overlaid on it. Despite this, our application seems to have been rejected for the following two reasons:

• Modifies any Spotify visual content, e.g. cropping album artwork, overlaying images on album artwork, placing their brand/logo on album artwork (Design Guidelines)
• Metadata, cover art, and audio content must be accompanied by a Spotify logo and a link back to the applicable artist, album, track, or playlist on the Spotify Service (Design Guidelines)

We kindly request a detailed explanation as to why our application was rejected so that we can correct any mistakes and reapply for the quota extension request.

Thank you for your support and attention.

Best regards,
Colisten Team

[talale]

Are those images in the screenshot retrieved via API? 
Small & medium devices should use a 2px corner radius, whereas large devices should use a 4px corner radius. Those high radiu borders might be the cause of the rejection.

https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/design

[nadnayr]

We’ve been denied three times in a row, each time for a different reason.

I was able to identify and fix the issues the first two times, but this time, I’m left guessing.

Regarding:

“You will receive an email with applied rejection reasons, and further instructions on how (if) to proceed…”

The “applied rejection reasons” lack specificity and are not actionable.

Our latest rejection cited “Unauthorized Access” with no details on which scopes, features, or implementation violate the guidelines.

• Does this apply to specific API scopes?
• Does this relate to our App Information or Feature Descriptions?
• How exactly can we fix this if our app does not actually function in the way described in the rejection?

Without clear feedback, we are left guessing what to change, which is inefficient for both us and Spotify’s review process.

How can we get specific guidance so we can ensure full compliance rather than guess, submit, wait 6–8 weeks, and be rejected again?

Without clear feedback, we are left guessing what to change, which is inefficient for both us and Spotify’s review process.

Little help? 🥹

[rotemd1]

I Think Spotify doesn't really want us to build anything on their platform, every reject cost you another 3 months of waiting while users are already using the app but can't really do anything until Spotify approves it, been working on it for the last year and im pretty much on the mercy of the approval team. 

[musicdev]

How much time does it take for Scope Extension to be approved?

btw - My app's Quota Extension took 3 month to be reviewed and it's frustrating not to get a clear answer from you guys..