Updating the Criteria for Web API Extended Access

[ThePodfather]

Hey, I created this thread to get your feedback on our blog post around changes to the Web API extended access criteria, which will take place on May 15th.

Please share any of your thoughts on this change in the comments below. All of your feedback will be reviewed and compiled so I can share directly with the S4D team.

Whilst I won’t be replying to individual pieces of feedback in this thread, please know that everything shared here will be read and considered. Any related threads or questions posted elsewhere on this topic will be merged here so everything is in one place.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

Update:

• Sharing some clarification that developers with existing quota moda extensions will keep their extension if they are actively using the Web API and remain in compliance with our Developer Terms. This update only applies to new developers in Dev mode seeking extended access
• As outlined in our blog post, if you've submitted your application before May 15th, we are committing to reviewing your submission based on prior criteria, whether you hear from us before that date or not.
• The criteria for the new process can be found HERE.

[yaktam]

Your best bet (for now) is to use ChatGPT, GROK, or Claude.AI to help you build an app that accesses that kind of data—from other websites (names withheld to protect the guilty). Just ask any of these AIs: “Is there another way to get BPM info for songs?” You'll be taken down a path that leads, if not to enlightenment, then at least to a usable solution.

You can still tap into Spotify’s remaining API features—like playlists, tracks, and artists—to generate a spreadsheet. Then, feed that spreadsheet into your custom app to retrieve BPM data from other sources.

It’s a workaround. But then again, so is most of life.

And remember: Spotify isn’t the only jukebox on the block. I’ll be digging into other music services and what their APIs can do. Might be time for a new dance partner.

[Reemface]

I know, there are sites where you can link a playlist and you will receive a csv with all data. Such sites are the reason spotify is shutting down api’s, but those sites are the only thing we have left to receive the bpm.

But that only works for playlists, not for new songs when browsing songs.

so just the tempo being added to the track info would make great impact for a lot of us

[CrowdChoiceAI]

We have been trying to apply for the extended quote and your quote form is not working. Keep getting a message that says something went wrong when we submitted 

[snaplist]

Hi Beamo, 

We are unable to locate any reapplication or appeals process.

There is a button to submit a new extension request which serves only as a redirect back to the metrics page. 

We're in the dark here. 

[yaktam]

Dear Spotify,

Let me be blunt: unless a developer shows up with 250,000 monthly users, you're not interested.

Message received. But you might want to look around—because this isn’t the first time a company thought it could wall off innovation and still win.

Let’s take a walk down “We Could've Owned the Future” Lane:

• Blackberry thought people wanted keyboards forever. Then Apple handed developers the keys to the app store. You know how that ended.

• Kodak invented digital photography… and buried it to protect their film business. How’d that go? Bankruptcy in 2012.

• MySpace ruled the web, until it focused on ads and control instead of enabling users and devs. Now it's a ghost town with autoplaying emo tracks.

• Sony Betamax had superior tech—but JVC opened VHS to the world. VHS won.

• 3DFX made jaw-dropping graphics cards… and insisted on doing everything in-house. Nvidia opened the door to developers and ate their lunch.

• Nvidia and JVC didn’t hoard their power. They shared it—and became legends.

Spotify, you have a choice. You can follow the path of the walled garden kings who crumbled under the weight of their own fences… or you can be the platform that fuels innovation by inviting others to build with you, not just for you.

Because here's the hard truth: your API isn’t the product. Your openness is.

Developers aren’t your enemy—they’re your free R&D lab. They turn “good platform” into “can't live without it.” But only if you let them in.

Right now, your policy says:
“Come back when you’ve made it.”

But the next great idea? It usually starts with one dev in a basement, not a startup with a press kit and Series A funding.

If you keep hoarding access, someone else will come along, open up their ecosystem, and take the creative world by storm. And when they do, Spotify won’t be disrupted—it’ll be forgotten.

You can still change that.

Sincerely,
A Developer Who Wanted to Build With You
But Will Gladly Build Without You

[GabeJacobs]

I'm having a nearly impossible time authenticating a simple app to play a track using a premium subscription. I think the confusing messages are the most frustrating. Is the API dead, or not?

[dangerdev]

Hey Spotify team and community,

I’m just a solo developer trying to build something fun and meaningful. I submitted my app VinylVerdict.fm on May 13, two days before the new quota rules went into effect. It’s a lighthearted site where users can log in with Spotify and have their music taste reflected and have an abstraction based on their listening history... no scraping, no AI training, no weird data farming. Just for fun.

This morning, I got the extended quota rejection email, and I’m honestly crushed. I put everything into building this before the deadline, and I followed what I thought were all the rules. The reason listed was that I “analyze Spotify Content,” but I thought that rule didn’t apply to apps submitted before the May 15 change?

I’m just asking for a second look. I’m not some shadow AI company or a metrics scraper, I’m just trying to build something music lovers like me can enjoy.

According to Spotify’s April 15, 2025 Developer Blog update:

“Applications submitted before May 15, 2025, will be reviewed under the previous criteria.”

My app was submitted May 13, 2025, which is within that window. However, the rejection I received cited this as the reason:

“You must not analyze the Spotify Content or the Spotify Service for any purpose, including without limitation, benchmarking, functionality, usage statistics, or user metrics.”

This language was not part of the public developer policy before May 15. It was first introduced in the April 15 blog post, but stated that it would apply going forward, not retroactively...

• My app does not benchmark Spotify’s service or extract usage metrics.

• I do not train any AI/ML models.

• I link all artist, album, and track data directly back to Spotify, and follow branding/linking rules exactly as outlined.

• I’m just asking to be reviewed based on the criteria that existed when I submitted.

I know the team is swamped and trying to protect the platform, but I genuinely hope you’ll reconsider this or at least offer a path forward. I can make changes if needed, I just need to know what’s actually possible.

Thank you for reading and for all the incredible tools you’ve given us over the years.

- Devin
vinylverdict.fm

[yaktam]

Dear Devin,

Spotify is not going to answer you. They don't care about the small dev. They'd rather simply count their $$ and play with the big boys in the sandbox, whoever they might be. They NEVER have anything constructive to add to these community dialogues, other than to tell us, what toys they've taken away from their devs.

If I were you, I'd simply sign up to one of their competitors and see if you can't port your work over to them. You're absolutely wasting your time over here with this outfit.

Best of luck with your app.

[Reemface]

Let's change the topic a little bit then;

Who of you guys know any other music services that supports API (for free or small fee), and supplies track info + BPM information?

If spotify lets us down, why not search for a different service together?

[lukens]

This won’t be what a lot of you will want to hear, but will be a glimmer of hope for some, because I just received approval for my app extension. I applied on the 27th April, and I in no way meet the new criteria for company setup or MAUs, etc, so it seems the old criteria were still applied.

[dangerdev]

I've almost come to terms with that. It just really hurts that they went back on their word about how they'll be applying the standards and their timeline. I worked so hard to make this application meet all the developer standards, and for them to go and apply the new standards to my application when they said they wouldn't feels like a sucker punch. Thank you for the kind words and advice.

[Andrew_1998]

Yes you could do that because you did that before the 15th of may but what about all the poor developers that were focused developing since months but with the goal to request the extended access soon?

[lukens]

@dangerdev - I was sure I’d remembered similar wording from before the May 15th change, and using wayback machine I found this wording from the policy effective from 8th May 2023:

“Do not analyze the Spotify Content or the Spotify Service for any purpose, including without limitation, creating new or derived listenership metrics, benchmarking, functionality, usage statistics, user metrics, or building profiles of users, including for the purpose of targeting them with advertising or marketing.”

Probably still not what your app is actually doing (mine was twice rejected for not linking tracks to Spotify or showing the Spotify logo - it did both), but similar to the wording used.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240101133742/https://developer.spotify.com/policy#:~:text=Do%20not%20a....

[benoitakro]

Hi everyone,

I’m writing on behalf of akro (https://www.akroapp.com/), a social app that lets users connect their Spotify accounts to share, discover, and talk about music with friends and influencers—using interactive posts where song previews are front and center.

Our app relies heavily on the Spotify API. With the new quota mode criteria—especially the requirement of 250,000 MAUs to unlock extended access—we are now faced with a real challenge. We already have more than 1,500 users eager to join, but we’re stuck with the dev mode’s 25-user limit. Without broader access, we can’t validate akro, collect meaningful feedback, or prove the value of offering song previews as part of music sharing.

These new requirements feel like a barrier for innovative startups, making it almost impossible to grow organically or reach product-market fit—especially since the song preview feature is critical to our user experience. Without it, akro can’t fulfill its mission or help users discover new music in an engaging way.

We believe akro is fully aligned with Spotify’s interest in increasing music engagement and listening time on the platform, as our model drives more discovery and sharing—meaning more sessions and more satisfied Spotify users.

We would love the opportunity to discuss with someone from the Spotify team about solutions for early-stage products like ours, and how we might be able to collaborate. You can reach us directly at **bleep**.

Thank you for considering this feedback and for supporting the next wave of music innovation.

[benoitakro]

Hi everyone,

I’m writing on behalf of akro, a social app that lets users connect their Spotify accounts to share, discover, and talk about music with friends and influencers—using interactive posts where song previews are front and center.

Our app relies heavily on the Spotify API. With the new quota mode criteria—especially the requirement of 250,000 MAUs to unlock extended access—we are now faced with a real challenge. We already have more than 1,500 users eager to join, but we’re stuck with the dev mode’s 25-user limit. Without broader access, we can’t validate akro, collect meaningful feedback, or prove the value of offering song previews as part of music sharing.

These new requirements feel like a barrier for innovative startups, making it almost impossible to grow organically or reach product-market fit—especially since the song preview feature is critical to our user experience. Without it, akro can’t fulfill its mission or help users discover new music in an engaging way.

We believe akro is fully aligned with Spotify’s interest in increasing music engagement and listening time on the platform, as our model drives more discovery and sharing—meaning more sessions and more satisfied Spotify users.

We would love the opportunity to discuss with someone from the Spotify team about solutions for early-stage products like ours, and how we might be able to collaborate. You can reach us directly at **bleep**. You can also find out more at https://www.akroapp.com/.

Thank you for considering this feedback and for supporting the next wave of music innovation.

[nks43]

This is the same with my personal project, is this sorted for you?

[mellunar]

Seriously, what's the point of that? Where did the information that it will affect only 1% of developers come from?

Now I'll have to write a guide and ask my users to sign up for the developer's dashboard and create a client ID there because that absurd restriction prevents me from having a production-ready app.

[temcode]

I am developing a new app, and getting users to test it with the allowlist is a pain. Now with the changes to the extended quota mode, it seems almost impossible to start up. Is it possible to raise the dev mode limits o allow more users and not require a manual allowlist? Otherwise advertising my app on my social media becomes essentially advertising a broken app, given that its core functionality will be broken until they contact me and a manually add them to the list

[kingykongie]

How am I supposed to reach the extended quota requirements when I am limited to 25 users PER INVITE?

You guys are killing the development community.

[sgrastar]

I'm developing M5DialPlay - an open-source Spotify controller for M5Stack Dial (ESP32 IoT device) that adds physical controls to Spotify: rotary encoder for volume, touch controls, album art
display, and playlist browsing. It promotes Spotify Premium and encourages daily usage through dedicated hardware.

These projects are platform evangelists, not competitors. Don't shut out the maker community that extends Spotify into creative physical interfaces.