Beats Music drops API, hopes other apps will soon bundle in compatibility

By Alex Tretbar March 7, 2014

beats releases api online — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The streaming service Beats Music, still in its infancy at a mere month-and-a-half old, today unveiled its API (application programming interface), effectively opening the door to app designers looking to bake in connectivity to the $120-a-year subscription player. An API is a tool that programmers can use to create compatibility between two different programs or types of software — a blueprint, of sorts.

Within Beats Music’s API, programmers will find the company’s catalog of more than 20 million tracks, in addition to music metadata, personal recommendations, curated content and album/artist art.

This isn’t the first instance of an online music-streaming service releasing its API to the public — Spotify and Rdio came before, with the same hopes of developers spreading app compatibility like pollen in the wind.

Released in mid-January, Beats Music hasn’t been around very long, but because it came into town on the same hype-horse that Beats originally rode onto the scene with, the service already sits atop a tall wave of press and hubbub. As a contender of Spotify, an API release — even this early — couldn’t hurt.

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Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…

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