Spotify Web API

The Spotify Web API is a RESTful interface provided by Spotify that allows developers to retrieve and manipulate Spotify’s catalog data, control playback, manage playlists, and access user-related data.

Documentation: Spotify Developer – Web API

Key Features & Capabilities

• Fetch metadata for tracks, albums, artists, playlists, shows, episodes, and categories.
• Search Spotify’s catalog (tracks, albums, artists, playlists) via query parameters.
• Playback control: play, pause, skip, seek, and manage a user’s playback queue (for authorized users).
• Manage a user’s library: saved tracks, albums, and playlists.
• Create, modify, and delete playlists.
• Get user profile, followed artists, and user’s top items.

Authentication & Authorization

Spotify Web API uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and authorization.

Common OAuth Flows

• Authorization Code Flow: for user-based actions (requires redirect URI).
• Client Credentials Flow: for non-user endpoints where user data is not required (no user login).

Clients must include an access token in the Authorization header of API requests.

Typical Request Structure

• Base URL: https://api.spotify.com/v1/

• Endpoint examples:

  • GET /albums/{id}
  • GET /artists/{id}/top-tracks
  • POST /playlists/{playlist_id}/tracks
  • PUT /me/albums

• Requests must include proper scopes and be authorized.

Rate Limits & Policies

Spotify enforces rate limits to prevent abuse. Exceeding limits returns HTTP status 429 Too Many Requests. Developers should handle retry logic.

Recently, Spotify made policy changes restricting certain endpoints and access for new or in-development apps.

Use Cases & Integration

• Music apps that allow users to search, play, or manage tracks and playlists
• Dashboards showing user listening statistics
• Recommendation systems based on user tastes
• Integrations with smart home devices or bots to control Spotify playback
• Embedding previews or snippets of Spotify content

Example: Search for a Track

Request:

GET https://api.spotify.com/v1/search?q=track:Imagine&type=track&limit=1
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Sample JSON Response (simplified):

{
  "tracks": {
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "3e9HZxeyfWwjeyPAMmWSSQ",
        "name": "Imagine",
        "artists": [
          { "name": "John Lennon" }
        ],
        "album": {
          "name": "Imagine"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Advantages & Limitations

Advantages

• Access to Spotify’s large music catalog and metadata
• Rich control over playback and user library
• Strong community with SDKs and client libraries

Limitations

• You must handle OAuth flow and token refresh
• Some endpoints require user’s explicit permission (scopes)
• New apps may face restrictions due to recent policy changes

Purpose

This API can be used to show the currently playing songs of a user in their own website, portfolios etc to add a personal touch to it. You can see it in action here portfolio.