Spotify opens its podcast catalogue to third-party apps, but not for streaming
Priyanka Khanapure,
4 years ago
2 min read
Spotify is inaugurating its podcast catalogue to third-party apps.
The company this week started a new version of its Podcast APIs that makes it feasible for third-party apps to connect to Spotify to maintain a user’s podcast library, explore its podcast catalogue and get detailed data and podcast shows and episodes, the firm says.
The Importance of the New Update
The launch is important as it taps into the broader developer community to assist Spotify to grow its podcast user base.
More importantly, it gives access to Spotify’s exclusive shows outside of Spotify’s app for the initial time.
Spotify, like various streaming providers, has started to use the phrase “podcast” loosely.
To Spotify, the name means an audio program, displayed in an episodic format.
But initially, the word was intended to refer to audio episodes made accessible over the web utilising the open format RSS.
Apple’s personal Podcasts app, despite its majority market share, never revised what a podcast was by placing select shows behind some paywall, membership or prepaid subscription.
But Spotify (and additional newcomers like Luminary), have done precisely this.
Spotify’s Network
In Spotify’s case, it obtained technology startups created to help people build and maintain their podcasts, along with a number of podcast networks — including The Ringer, Gimlet and Parcast — which set out some of the industry’s prime shows.
Now, several of Spotify’s 700,000-some podcasts are exclusive to its service.
That indicates if you desire to listen to them, you have to register on Spotify.
Sadly for podcast listeners, it also implies that you had to utilise the Spotify app to stream these shows, instead of your otherwise favoured third-party podcast app such as Overcast, Pocket Casts, Breaker, Castro or the countless others that fill the app stores.
Spotify’s latest podcast APIs don’t change this, unfortunately.
Instead, the latest API is concentrated on podcast development, search and managing shows — not on streaming Spotify’s podcasts, exclusives or originals through a third-party app activity.
Spotify assumes the latest features accessible now will be beneficial to apps that import shows to a user’s Spotify library, or for combinations with calendar apps, or social podcasting encounters to help Spotify users share what they’re listening to with their mates.
Ahead down the road, it anticipates highlighting latest apps on its developer website.
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