Spotify Announces App Platform with Features from Last.fm, Rolling Stone, and More

November 30th, 2011 by Sarah Silbert, LAPTOP Staff Writer

Spotify’s been teasing a “new direction” leading up to its press event, and today it revealed exactly what that entails. At an event in San Francisco, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek announced that third-party developers will now be able to create apps to plug into the music service.

This new feature is kicking off strong, with Billboard, Rolling Stone, Soundkick, and more signed on as Spotify partners. Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone was even on hand at the press event, and he announced that the mag will create daily playlists for Spotify users. There’s also a tie-in from Last.fm, the popular music community for sharing your current tunes of choice.

In addition to opening up its platform to developers, Spotify is providing users with an “app finder” for discovering all types of content, from music and lyrics to reviews and concert ticket info. (One app demoed at the event, TuneWiki, shows lyrics in sync with the song you’re streaming. Awesome.)

Another new feature: Users can add friends to a favorites list. Ek said all these new features will be available to both free and paid Spotify customers. There’s lots to check out; we sense a hands-on in the near future.