British social music startup ShareMyPlaylists has a new string to its bow: a spin-off business called SMPapps which will develop Spotify apps for a range of clients.
The new studio is based on ShareMyPlaylists’ experience developing its own Spotify app, as well as working for Coca-Cola Germany on its Spotify offering.
“The Spotify App platform is a fantastic platform to develop for because it allows a legal way for apps to integrate with Spotify’s rich catalogue of over 18 million tracks,” says boss Kieron Donoghue. “We’re very excited to build the next generation of music apps for our clients.”
The team’s experience is clear, but what might be even more appealing to brands, labels and other potential clients is ShareMyPlaylists’ tight relationship with Spotify.
There’s a quote to that effect in the announcement from Spotify’s Yashar Moradbakhti: “The SMPapps team work closely with us to ensure a smooth process from inception through to the final build of the app process and has a track record of delivering great experiences for the consumer.”
Why is this important? Because Spotify’s apps platform is still in its early days, and in the time since its launch in late 2011, it’s fair to say the company’s guidelines and rules have been… evolving. Which is a polite way of saying that it hasn’t always been clear what Spotify is and isn’t encouraging on its platform, or how its roadmap looks.
Being a Spotify buddy should give SMPapps (and its clients) more insight into these issues. But it does raise the question of whether Spotify is planning to run a wider ‘approved partners’ initiative – for example, like Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer Program.
