Spotify Adds New 12 Apps, Including First From Labels Def Jam, Warners, Matador & More

Custom apps are helping Spotify stand apart from increasingly aggressive competitors, as well as, driving discovery and engagement.  So its little surprise that today they added 12 more to the offering.  As before, many work to enhance the listening experiencee, but for the first time a number of significant record labels have launched Spotify apps as well. New Spotify apps include:

• Classify:  Brwose classical music by composers, eras, moods, instruments or genres.
• The Complete Collection:  Images, lyrics, and liner notes. 150 album booklets available at launch with more coming soon.
• Def Jam:  The labe's app promises "new experiences in music discovery and curation".
• Digster:  Fresh playlists updated weekly. Browse playlists by category, find playlists made by artists and match Digster playlists to your listening history and Facebook likes.
• Domino: This label app will offer a destination for fans of the Domino label and "the larger independent music community". The app leads the listener through the label's 20-year history by highlighting artist playlists, custom catalogue exclusives and commentary from "their friends and neighbours in the world of indie".
• Filtr:  The app allows you to build playlists based on the music tastes of your Facebook friends, people who’ve accepted invitations to Facebook events (which could be a great tool for bands and promoters), genres and more.
• Hot or Not: Hot or not? You decide. Cast your vote on one of the two songs in the battle and  be rewarded with points and badges. Voting will also contribute to a ‘Taste Maker’ top list.
• The Legacy Of: Hi-res photos, curated playlists, handpicked albums, biographies and more.  Delve into the catalogue of artists like Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Daryl Hall & John Oates and Stevie Ray Vaughan. New artists highlighted every week.
• Matador Records: As well as Matador’s latest releases and tour dates, users can browse the history of releases from Matador since 1992.
• [PIAS]: New albums and curated playlists from the indie label updated weekly.
• TweetVine: Follows the Twitter hashtag #NowPlaying and creates Spotify charts from the results. Developed at a London Music Hack Day by coders Matt Larsen and Matt Schofield from Universal Music.
• the warner sound: Songs, albums, and playlists from Warner Music Group’s roster past and present plus playlists, album of the day, family tree (current artists are traced back to the classic roots) and artist-curated playlists.

Spotify Apps Still Missing Monetization Strategy

Spotify's increasingly diverse app offering is still without a monetization strategy for app developers.  Thus far they've offered developers only increased traffic and engagement. As with Spotify's own business model, a clear path from free to paid needs to develop for the relationship to survive.