Spotify launches apps platform

MUSIC - To provide a more social experience. Unfortunately, still no Web client for ...
Spotify wants to continue his conquest of digital music. Wednesday, the Swedish company in New York announced the launch of a platform-house apps. Now, partners can offer the modules directly integrated into the Spotify client, such as album reviews, tops lists, concert tickets or song lyrics.
Initially, 16 apps are launched, accessible via a new section in the menu on the left (which will be available in the coming days via an update). Among the initial partners: Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and the Guardian. The SDK is open to everyone but the apps must be approved by Spotify, said its CEO, Daniel Ek.
 User base tripled since September
According to Daniel Ek, "so far, the Web was silent." The main idea is to read such a critical reading and listening to a title with one click. Unfortunately, the "ubiquity" is limited promise: everything goes through the client. Clearly, for the moment, the platform is one way in the wall partitioned Spotify. There is not, for example, modules can be integrated directly on the site with the exception of Facebook, but even then, always have the desktop client to listen to the securities.


Asked about the possibility of a Web version of the client, Daniel Ek said that the current solution was "the most elegant and more functional." Unlike a Deezer or Google Music, so it is still not possible to stream its titles directly in the browser. At work, this means for example that must convince the IT department to install the software on his machine.


Nevertheless, the strategy seems to pay. Since the partnership with Facebook and the opening of service in the United States, Spotify has grown from three million users in early September to 10 million today. Above all, one in four is a premium member and pay a subscription (9.99 euros per month) for an ad-free listening and accessible offline.