Deezer announces developer reward scheme alongside API upgrade

13 Mar 2013

Deezer has announced a number of changes and upgrades to its service aimed at encouraging more developers to create apps incorporating its music streaming platform and, overall, drive more subscriptions.

In the last six months, 35 apps have been added to the Deezer ecosystem, but there are hopes for more. To entice developers, Deezer has established an affiliate programme for developers using its Open API.

This means that developers building music from Deezer into their social apps will be rewarded each time this results in a subscription to the music-streaming service. A payment equal to a month’s Deezer subscription will be issued to developers for every user that discovers and subscribes to the service via their app.

“Music streaming isn’t about giving people access to soulless databases of songs – we want to build an immersive and entertaining experience that gets people hooked on Deezer,” said Deezer CEO Axel Dauchez. “Our affiliate scheme and API improvements will help developers seamlessly bring music into their greatest apps. We can’t wait to see what they’ll build.”

APIs, apps and a mobile App Studio

As Dauchez mentions, Deezer’s API has also been upgraded to enable deeper integration between social apps and the music service. Activity from Deezer apps will now appear in the social bar and new features have been added to enable and encourage developers to create music-focused games.

New apps are also being launched to demonstrate the potential of this new API, such as Askking Music, which lets users challenge their friends on Deezer and Facebook to a game of identifying tracks. Other upcoming apps include music-based dating app Moosify and music discovery app Seevl. These apps will be available globally, with Deezer’s editorial team working to push through music suited to local tastes.

Soon, Deezer’s developer website will relaunch following a major upgrade and the service will also be launching an App Studio for mobile devices, following the creation of its original App Studio last year.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com