Spotify is adding to its growing apps platform with 12 new apps from taste-making record labels, including Def Jam and Matador, chock full of curated selections and starting points to discover new music on your own.
Since launching in the fall, Spotify apps have been pretty limited. The new introductions are definitely an improvement, if not a total fulfillment of what Spotify has been promising with their new platform. Beyond representing major labels like Warner and Def Jam, Spotify brought along a few legendary niche labels like Matador and Domino, letting you explore your favorite albums and artists with bonus content like high-resolution images and expanded biographies. There are also new interactive and social apps so you can do things like vote for hot new tracks and share your plays on Twitter. And there's even a new app called Classify, which helps you up your classical music knowledge.
But while these apps are a welcome addition, the Spotify apps ecosystem remains very limited. The promise of Spotify apps is one of discovery. Now that you can listen to millions of songs for $10 a month, the trick is to help people find their way around. So far, Spotify has been very guarded about letting in new apps. While the offerings are a wonderful proof of concept, we can't wait for them to open up the system to a broader community of developers. Expect to see these new apps pop up beginning tomorrow. [Spotify]