Spotify has decided to end its compatibility with all 3rd-party DJ applications from July 1, 2020. This news was revealed by Algoriddim, a developer that owns Djay, a highly popular iOS DJ software application. The Verge reached out to Spotify who confirmed this news to be true.
Algoriddim stated that beginning from July 1st, 2020, Spotify would not be compatible with third party DJ applications anymore. The company’s DJing software Djay will still support Spotify till July 1, 2020, after which users will have to turn to other streaming services for their music needs. Djay added that they were introducing new music streaming services, which would help users mix the music they desired and revealed plans to grant increased access to brand-new features and content. This plan could help mitigate the impact of the loss due to Spotify terminating its partnership with Algoriddim.
Djay was the market leader of the industry due to its innovative features. It was widely preferred by DJs all over the world due to its seamless Spotify integration, which allowed them to play tracks without being worried about latency or streaming issues.
Users can still utilize SoundCloud and Tidal with the Djay app after Spotify terminates its partnership. The latest post from Algoriddim has also listed various tools and methods that can help people transfer their tracks and playlists to different streaming services.
Algoriddim was a pioneer that integrated music streaming services with its application long before other companies started offering the same. However, the latest DJ hardware and software these days come equipped with the ability to support music streaming. Denon’s SC5000M and SC5000 media players, and the Prime 4 standalone player possess Tidal integration and Wi-Fi features. Pioneer DJ launched a controller in 2019 that enabled smartphone DJing and music streaming whereas Serato DJ started offering SoundCloud integration in 2018 as well.
SoundCloud and Tidal are better placed to enter such partnerships. Currently, Spotify isn’t integrated with DJ hardware or software apart from Djay, which was an agreement signed in 2014. Virtual DJ previously had Spotify integration. The Pacemaker for iOS app is also supported by Spotify. However, the former’s access was terminated in 2017.
Back then, Virtual DJ had informed DJ TechTools about Spotify’s decision to terminate their partnership, stating that Spotify had changed their conditions regarding the usage of Spotify within professional DJ apps. TechTools added that Spotify’s licensing agreement did not allow for the caching or streaming of two tracks at the same time.
Spotify’s Terms of Service section still has information regarding this topic, wherein it states “You may not, and you may not permit any device or system used in connection with the Spotify Service to, segue, mix, re-mix, or overlap any Spotify Content with any other audio content (including other Spotify Content)”
However, it remains unclear whether Spotify will be changing the terms of its developer Terms of Service again on July 1 or whether this move is merely enforcement of the existing terms. Regardless, it’s clear that Spotify’s interests lie somewhere else whereas SoundCloud and Tidal are focused on forging new partnerships with heavyweights in the DJ sector.
