We relaunched with an integration of Spotify and Apple Music in October, after hosting the music ourselves for seven years. As you can imagine this is a very, very difficult landscape to survive in as a bootstrapped music company.
To avoid losing or forgetting our great genre playlists, we've created an app (built by Amsterdam based team Next Empire) where you only have to log in once with your Spotify (premium) account to access our DJ curated lists. By listening to these more undiscovered tunes, you will also significantly improve your Discover Weekly and Release Radar algorithms.
An Android app is in the works as well. Hope you like it :)
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@vincent_reinders 22tracks is the Best Music discovery app around. Welcome back.
Great to see 22tracks back! Curation has always been top notch, and the simplicity of the new app is incredible. One piece of feedback is that i do miss the artist bio's/write-ups that were typically attached to the tracks. This layer of context is the aspect sorely missing from Spotify's playlists - however it's understandable the level of additional effort this could require from the curators/platform.
Great work! Even the PH screens are slick af.
@jamie_shoard thanks Jamie! Indeed, we try to keep this app as minimal as possible. We're looking at integrating Apple Music in the future too though, depending on their API developments.
PS: Enjoyed reading your Medium post this morning as well :)
@vincent_reinders Thanks Vincent! Looking forward to seeing the progress! If you're interested in chatting about the Apple Music API, Sam and I integrated it to Combo a little while back with a few bumps - but it works!
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Love the new app (and music)!
You seem to have some 1-⭐️ reviews due to the fact that Spotify Premium is necessary. I think we all understand the transition. Keep up the good work.
@aramsterdam yes too bad about that. I can understand the reaction from people who have paid $2 in the past, but honestly, they've received years of free music streaming for just two bucks. There's still this assumption that it's normal for music to be available for free. Behind the scenes there's always someone paying for it.
22 tracks is my favorite music discovery service, and it's never been in better shape 💖
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Remember Muxtape? _Human_ curated playlists coupled with a stripped down UI, it was a great way of discovering new music in the pre-AI/ML days until the RIAA shut it down. When I first discovered 22tracks on the web, I felt that spirit renewed. IMO the curation is where 22tracks really stands out. I'm constantly finding new music, and that steady stream of discovery keeps me coming back. Awesome stuff!
Kudos on the Spotify/Apple Music integrations, bespoke streaming music services have always been hindered more by legal challenges than technical ones. Hopefully this helps you scale your catalog (and audience) without burying you in licensing fees.
I've been following your Public Playlists in Spotify since the switch. Does the app offer anything in addition to what I can access already in Spotify? I'm curious why I might use this app instead of Spotify?
P.S. Really miss the Top22 by city.
@ckalima thanks for the kind words!
This app is mainly ideal for when you're on the road, or just quickly want to access our playlists (in 3 seconds). If you're following a lot of Spotify playlists, you'll notice that it'll take you a while before you find them, if you don't tend to forget them at all.
A big plus is that you can save all tracks you find on 22tracks directly in a My22 Spotify list.
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Happy that they're back. Discovered a lot of new music thanks to their excellent curation. Spotify integration is a big plus.
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