Spotify’s push to have more brands on its apps platform is paying off, with the launch of new apps from Intel and McDonald’s. The former has launched Sifter, an Echo Nest-powered recommendation app that sorts songs into a mosaic based on specific tracks, artists and friends.

Meanwhile, the McDonald’s ListenIn app promises to “find songs your friends are listening to”, sorting them by friend, by decades or by the time they were being listened to. It’s notable that both apps are only available in the US for now: clicking on the links here in the UK brings up an error message in Spotify’s desktop app.

Spotify sees brands as a key part of its service going forward. There have been some rumblings from rightsholders about how brands might associate themselves with particular tracks or artists, but it’s notable that the Intel and McDonald’s apps avoid that – instead associating themselves with the discovery process itself. We wonder how popular these apps will be compared to those from music brands like Last.fm, We Are Hunted, Pitchfork and others?