The way Spotify turns a profit is primarily through subscriptions to its Premium service, more so than through advertising in its free version. Understandably, this is the main reason that the company has recently decided to eradicate any trace of alternative clients that illegally offer the features from their paid version, and even some shady ones that let users download songs. In fact, at Uptodown, we’ve recently received a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice to delete some of these versions.
Sites like XDA Developers and Github have had to take down alternative clients like Spotify Dogfood. In our case, we’ve had to take down a modified version of the client that made it possible to use the interface of the client for tablets on any smartphone. That said, on the users’ side of things, anyone detected to be using an alternative client has most likely received an email warning to uninstall the unofficial app and install the official one.
To drive home the final threat of the message: if you continue using these clients, Spotify could potentially shut down your account for good. However, you CAN still use apps that use the API externally like SpotOn, which lets you use your Spotify playlists as an alarm clock. Also, there are other legal ways to enjoy Spotify content like the official app, Stations, which is centered around listening to themed radio stations.
