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Spotify to launch API for its music catalog?

Apps expected to display lyrics and reviews of songs playing, as well as concert dates and ticket offers, sources tell the Wall Street Journal.

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Steven Musil
2 min read

Spotify may announce tomorrow the addition of an open app platform to its popular music service.

The "app finder" may include the ability to read reviews of the music as they listen to songs, people "in the music business" tell the Wall Street Journal. One app will reportedly display lyrics to the songs playing, while another will list upcoming concerts of artists in a user's play list and link to ticket sales sites.

The apps are expected to be free and available to users of both the free and premium versions of the service, the Journal reported. Wired reported in October that the Stockholm-based service would unveil a commercial API (application programming interface) that would allow third-party developers to build apps on top of Spotify's song catalog.

The announcement could come tomorrow during a press conference that Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify, has called for 9 a.m. PT. Speculation has suggested Spotify would unveil an online-video service or a download music store in the United States.

Spotify, the largest paid music subscription service with 2.5 million paying customers worldwide, has been looking for ways to stave off free music streaming sites such as MOG and Rdio. The company recently announced it was partnering with Facebook to integrate their services in an effort to get users to listen to a wider selection of music.

Note: CNET will begin its coverage of the Spotify event starting at 8:45 a.m. PT. As usual, we'll be using Cover it Live to bring you updates and photos from the press conference as it's happening. Just go to this page Wednesday for all the action.