Digitalmusic.org Launches Music API Directory
The application programming interface or API is becoming an increasingly important tool for web and mobile services that want to share data, content or capabilities to extend their presence or who want access in order to create new services. For example, all those Spotify apps you're seeing are powered by Spotify's API. digitalmusic.org recently launched a Music API Directory designed to facilitate discovery of such APIs for use by developers large and small.
digitalmusic.org is the digital wing of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, a trade association for the music industry. As such digitalmusic.org finds ways to support the development of the business of digital music. For example, the recent launch of their Music API Directory offers a simple but useful tool accessible to both members and non-members.
Bill Wilson, VP of Digital Strategy and Business Development for both NARM and digitalmusic.org, stated:
"Music apps have the potential to radically transform the way music is monetized on several levels, but that potential that has not yet been realized, partially due to a lack of good information in the marketplace…The Music API Directory is a component of a suite of digitalmusic.org Developer Services and was created to help address the issue of connecting developers with the quality content providers and services that can be the building blocks of their business."
Created by their Music Games & Apps workgroup, the Music API Directory is organized in categories that indicate what sort of content, information or tools are made available to developers.
As Fred Wilson noted in 2006, APIs can be considered an element of Business Development 2.0. In 2012 we're seeing APIs becoming an increasingly important tool for music app developers and yet it still seems like we're only at the beginning of something big.
Additional Resources:
- Wikipedia – Application programming interface
- Thought Food – Mark Mulligan on the API Economy
- ProgrammableWeb – Music API News
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
