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. 

[igold]

I've literally been working on an app that heavily leveraged these exact APIs for the last few months. I was trying to make an app that helped users build playlists by finding great candidate tracks, building queues, and pushing them to Spotify as playlists (for DJ-like super-users). Some notice would have been nice at the very least I was literally mid-coding when my whole app basically went dead... There is nowhere else to get data like this out there, so you've effectively just destroyed the last few months of work for me. Much appreciated 🙏.

[k_shatz]

Yeah I feel you on this one. Lot's of hours spent building gone...

I have been working on the same type of app (would have been fun to compete). And as I was working on some of my routes that dealt with audio analysis I was so confused why everything I had working as of last night is just broken too. 

Very very disappointing to be honest, especially when apps that are in production mode still have access to these endpoints. 

But I guess this is there data and they can do what they want with it, but a heads up, a better explanation would have been appreciated. 

@Spotify, is there any plans on bringing back some sort of functionality that is related to what you just deprecated??

[morrisMC]

Are there any plans to bring back those endpoints in the future? Maybe after eliminating possible security issues etc.?

As this is a major change, basically eliminating most prime use cases for the api, i think most developers would appreciate to learn more about the reasons for this decision. I suppose there are many take aways from this.

[k_shatz]

I hope there are plans to bring it back but I think this is not a security issue but rather a way to limit competition...

They have been planning on releasing AI playlist creation features, and if I am not mistaken more track data within their native app and this is a way to curb any applications that are utilizing these endpoints that could compete with those features...

I hope I am wrong though and definitely a little emotional with the loss of my work.

[igold]

Something tells me the timing here is not a coincidence. With the advent of transformer models there's probably a risk of people training new models to emulate Spotify's model(s). I really hope that's not the reason they're taking it down but if it is I'm just disappointed. This was all open source information in the echo nest days and there's never been anything quite like that since unfortunately.

[cytokineking]

Like the other posters above, I've invested months of effort and written thousands of lines of code to develop an app that depended heavily on these endpoints. While I understand Spotify's commitment to enhancing safety and security, the sudden nature of these changes has resulted in significant time and effort being lost for many developers.

I urge the Spotify team to consider implementing a process that allows apps currently in development mode to request a review for continued access to the endpoints they have been relying on. This would greatly assist developers who have been affected by these changes and help maintain the innovative spirit of the Spotify developer community.

[igold]

I'll reserve formal judgement until they choose to either elaborate or not. It just feels so icky if they're using security as a guise to limit competition. I'd honestly rather them just say its to limit competition.

[jskarens]

Is that the reason why scrobbling to Last.fm doesn't work today from the app? It works from the web version though.

[aexelmaexel]

Literaly finished my project about 1h ago and now i was wondering why nothing is working anymore.... thanks

[Ryuko4w]

thanks spotify... im just think my project has cleared, but when i saw this all is gone. Thanks a lot for make my hardworking gone.

[WXRIW]

Please restore these APIs as soon as possible. Their discontinuation has caused critical functionality in my app to stop working. Several features in my app are deeply reliant on these APIs, and without them, the app is no longer functioning as intended.

[petros789]

Did this change somehow break the Web Playback SDK? I can no longer even get to a "Ready" state. 

[bbodie]

I was also currently in the process of writing a small DJ applet for users in our local scene who like to have their main library in Spotify. It is really a bummer to have it quit working just like that. 

[Jonahcool1]

I’ve been working on an app for quite some time that depends on some APIs. Atleast some notice would've been nice the have. With the recent changes, my app is now fully non-functional, and I’m hoping that there are plans to bring the APIs back.

Is there any chance for a workaround or exception for apps that were already in development?
Or are there any workarounds?

[slimdogsteve]

I had an app that helped me build playlists for my yoga and fitness classes. Used it for over 2 years and a few of my fellow teachers also use it.

Then, BAM, today, it doesn't work. No notice or anything. If you told us, we would have asked for an extension, which I was planning to do anyway but thought I would wait until I have more users.

My app is not competitive, but it is a huge incentive for non-spotify users to switch to spotify.

Wish there was some way to communicate with someone about all of this.

[LeeCo]

**bleep**. I have several python apps, all for personal use (not available publicly on the web, or distributed in any other way,) that I use weekly to build playlists for my own music discovery. This really sucks. The API, and the ability to generate my own playlists, was the main feature keeping me from switching to Apple Music. If I can't generate music discovery playlists using python, I guess it's time to switch over to the competition.

[skysteve3]

Let's be real here, this isn't about security or user privacy, this is about data being used for training AI models.

At least show the developer community some respect and tell us straight, don't use security as an excuse. If security was really a concern you would've at least updated dependency versions on the npm package in the past 10 months!

Woke up this morning and the app I'd spent months writing for my personal use to solve some pretty niche use cases is now broken. As other's have said, notice would've been nice, but I guess with that all the AI companies would've just ramped up efforts.

[morrisMC]

I think we all here share a pretty similiar story, investing time and effort into developing something the Spotify ecosystem would have profited from. I have to say this is pretty comedic timing - the App i developed was literally finished a week ago and the quota extension request was about to be done. I've been learning React and Typescript for half a year now while building this App relying completly on those endpoints. I was just about to push the documentation to my Portfolio, before applying to jobs. A moment i was waiting for a long time now. Just wanted to get some new songs for this work session using my app, only to find out it doesn't and wont work anymore. Saw this post and went for a run. Did help calming me down - but now i sit here and wonder what to do with the app and the huge pile of code i spent a good amount of the last half year working on.

Is there any way to get to a point where eventual "security issues" are avoided, while still being able to use the api, even in strongly limited quotas for demonstration purposes?

PS.: this API was a strong feature of and a good argument for Spotify in my eyes and i think it would be a shame if this is basically the end of this.

[WYCCW]

Dear Official Spotify Team.

Greetings! I am a dedicated Spotify developer, and the apps I develop rely heavily on the api you provide. unfortunately, I have noticed that a recent api disablement has resulted in a number of key features of my program not functioning properly, which has caused great inconvenience to me and my users.

I am aware that the official decision on api management must have far-reaching considerations, but my application has built up a certain level of dependency among many users, and the sudden disabling of the api has had a significant impact on their daily use. Therefore, I earnestly hope that the official team will re-evaluate this decision and consider restoring the functionality of the api in question.

I am willing to provide any information and assistance necessary to help the official team understand the importance of the api to my application and ensure its safe and compliant use.

Please understand the importance of this request to me and my users and respond as soon as possible. I look forward to further communication with the official team and thank you for reading this response in your busy schedule.