Spotify to acquire music recommendation service The Echo Nest

OSLO, Norway, March 6 (UPI) -- Spotify will acquire music intelligence company The Echo Nest, which the company says will improve user experience and the music discovery engine's performance.

The details of the acquisition have not been revealed but The Echo Nest has said that it will continue to keep its API open and free. The company calls itself a music intelligence company and provides recommendations to listeners for radio streaming services.

Spotify's purchase gives it clear advantage over its rivals. Not only will they have access to a key piece of technology that will help it deliver a better service to its users, many of its rivals, like Rdio, iHeartRadio, Deezer and Rhapsody, use the service to make radio recommendations. Despite assurances that the API will remain open and free, the purchase means Spotify has control over technology used by its rivals.

“At Spotify, we want to get people to listen to more music. We are hyper focused on creating the best user experience and it starts with building the best music intelligence platform on the planet. With The Echo Nest joining Spotify, we will make a big leap forward in our quest to play you the best music possible,” said Daniel Ek, founder and CEO of Spotify.

The Echo Nest was started in 2005 in Sommerville, MA, and is a key part of Boston's tech scene, though it has operations in San Francisco as well. The company said in a blog post that it intended "fix how people were discovering music" and preempted the rise of Spotify-like services.

The Echo Nest will continue to operate from its Somerville headquarters and San Francisco office. Both companies cite the continued importance of the developer community as a key focal point to the partnership going forward.

"You’re about to see some great stuff from the new Echo Nest-enabled Spotify, and we’re excited to hear what you think. We’re all staying in town, our API stays up, and every single person at our company will continue to focus on building the future of music," read The Echo Nest blog post.

[The Echo Nest] [Spotify] [TechCrunch]