Alex Spinov

Posted on Mar 25

Spotify API: Build a Music Discovery Tool in 50 Lines of Python

#python #api #beginners #tutorial

Spotify's API is one of the most generous free APIs available. You get access to 100 million tracks, audio features, recommendations, and playlist data — all for free.

Here's how to build a music discovery tool in 50 lines.

Setup (2 Minutes)

Go to developer.spotify.com
Create an app (free)
Copy your Client ID and Client Secret

pip install httpx

Authentication

Spotify uses Client Credentials flow for public data:

import httpx
import base64

CLIENT_ID = 'your_client_id'
CLIENT_SECRET = 'your_client_secret'

def get_token():
    auth = base64.b64encode(f'{CLIENT_ID}:{CLIENT_SECRET}'.encode()).decode()
    r = httpx.post('https://accounts.spotify.com/api/token',
        headers={'Authorization': f'Basic {auth}'},
        data={'grant_type': 'client_credentials'}
    )
    return r.json()['access_token']

token = get_token()
headers = {'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}'}

Search for Artists

def search_artist(name):
    r = httpx.get('https://api.spotify.com/v1/search',
        headers=headers,
        params={'q': name, 'type': 'artist', 'limit': 1}
    )
    artist = r.json()['artists']['items'][0]
    return {
        'name': artist['name'],
        'id': artist['id'],
        'followers': artist['followers']['total'],
        'genres': artist['genres'],
        'popularity': artist['popularity']
    }

print(search_artist('Radiohead'))
# {'name': 'Radiohead', 'followers': 11M, 'genres': ['art rock', ...], 'popularity': 79}

Get Top Tracks

def top_tracks(artist_id, market='US'):
    r = httpx.get(f'https://api.spotify.com/v1/artists/{artist_id}/top-tracks',
        headers=headers,
        params={'market': market}
    )
    return [{
        'name': t['name'],
        'album': t['album']['name'],
        'popularity': t['popularity'],
        'preview_url': t['preview_url']
    } for t in r.json()['tracks'][:5]]

Get Audio Features (The Cool Part)

Spotify analyzes every track and provides:

danceability — how suitable for dancing (0-1)
energy — intensity and activity (0-1)
valence — musical positivity (0-1)
tempo — BPM
acousticness — acoustic vs electronic (0-1)

def audio_features(track_id):
    r = httpx.get(f'https://api.spotify.com/v1/audio-features/{track_id}',
        headers=headers
    )
    f = r.json()
    return {
        'danceability': f['danceability'],
        'energy': f['energy'],
        'valence': f['valence'],
        'tempo': f['tempo'],
        'acousticness': f['acousticness']
    }

Discover Similar Artists

def discover(artist_name):
    """Find similar artists with different vibes."""
    artist = search_artist(artist_name)
    r = httpx.get(f'https://api.spotify.com/v1/artists/{artist["id"]}/related-artists',
        headers=headers
    )
    related = r.json()['artists'][:10]
    return [{
        'name': a['name'],
        'genres': a['genres'][:3],
        'popularity': a['popularity'],
        'followers': f"{a['followers']['total']:,}"
    } for a in related]

# Find artists similar to Radiohead
for artist in discover('Radiohead'):
    print(f"{artist['name']} ({artist['popularity']}/100) — {', '.join(artist['genres'])}")

Get Recommendations

def get_recommendations(seed_artists=None, seed_genres=None, **kwargs):
    params = {'limit': 10}
    if seed_artists:
        params['seed_artists'] = ','.join(seed_artists)
    if seed_genres:
        params['seed_genres'] = ','.join(seed_genres)
    params.update(kwargs)  # target_energy=0.8, min_tempo=120, etc.

    r = httpx.get('https://api.spotify.com/v1/recommendations',
        headers=headers, params=params
    )
    return [{'name': t['name'], 'artist': t['artists'][0]['name']} 
            for t in r.json()['tracks']]

# High energy dance tracks
recs = get_recommendations(
    seed_genres=['electronic', 'dance'],
    target_energy=0.9,
    target_danceability=0.8,
    min_tempo=120
)

Rate Limits

Free tier: ~180 requests/minute
No API key cost
Rate limit headers in response

What You Can Build

Mood-based playlist generator
Artist similarity explorer
Music taste analyzer
Genre evolution tracker
DJ set builder (match BPM/key)

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