Music developers, it’s time to get programming. Music intelligence platform The Echo Nest has just announced a partnership with subscription app Rdio that will help devs create more engaging apps for music discovery.
As you may recall, super-social music subscription service Rdio opened its Rdio.com API and affiliate program to developers during SXSW, allowing devs to tap into its 8 million-song catalog and monetize any resulting apps through Rdio‘s affiliate program, which pays a commission for directing new subscribers their way and for song downloads. AOL was one of the first to take advantage of that API with a free Android app called Play.
The Echo Nest already has access to music from the likes of 7 Digital and Island Def Jam. It’s now added Rdio to its stable of song-providers.
What this means is developers will be able to marry musical intelligence with scads of songs. In any new app, users will be able to check out 30-second samples of songs via Rdio, or, if they are subscribers to the service, listen to entire songs. If a user signs up for a subscription via the app, the developer will get 2% to 3% of the subscription fee.
“We really want to help developers build commercially successful music applications,” says The Echo Nest CEO Jim Lucchese. “Rdio offers a simple and elegant way for developers to build streaming applications.”
In addition to Rdio’s catalog, developers will be able to tap into the service’s social features, from manipulating the social graph (adding friends) to creating playlists and getting info about new releases.
You can check out the partnership in action via Music Maze, a nifty little app that allows you to search for artists and build a shareable web of similar acts.
Hackers can take Music Maze as inspiration for the upcoming Music Hack Day in San Francisco (May 7-8), at which the Rdio/Echo Nest partnership will be available for use.
Image courtesy of Flickr, craigCloutier
More About: design-and-dev, Echo Nest, music, rdio
For more Dev & Design coverage:
- Follow Mashable Dev & Design on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Dev & Design channel
- Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
