Spotify to Offer Apps, Open Platform to Developers

Spotify AB will begin offering Facebook-style apps that add various features and functions to its popular online-music service, according to people in the music industry, a move that could differentiate the company amid growing competition from Google Inc., Inc. and Apple Inc.

When it starts on Wednesday, the "app finder" is likely to include reviews from magazines and blogs that allow users to listen to albums as they read reviews, the people say. One app will display lyrics as a song plays, while another will generate a list of upcoming concerts by artists in a user's Spotify playlists and offer links to buy tickets.

Since Stockholm-based Spotify is opening its app platform to any developer, much as Apple does for its iPhone app store, more functions are likely to arrive soon. Also like Apple, Spotify will vet all submissions to make sure they work properly and meet other criteria.

Spotify's move comes as several much bigger technology companies move into its core turf of streaming music. Though Spotify doesn't require users to own a copy of a song, competitors Apple, Google and Amazon all offer users services that let users store copies of their music collections on remote servers and listen to streaming versions of the music.

The Spotify apps will be free, the people familiar with the plans said, and available to both paying subscribers and users of its free, ad-supported version.

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