Spotify Audio Features Is Closed to New Apps. Here's the Alternative.
October 6, 2026 · 5 min read
The short version
New Spotify apps can't get tempo, key or beats anymore. Since November 27, 2024, Audio Features and Audio Analysis have been closed to new apps.
You can get the same numbers from the audio file itself. Send the song to an analysis API and you get tempo, key, energy, beats, bars and sections back, for unreleased songs too.
Songbrain maps almost field for field, and adds more. On top come the best moments of the song, every sung word with its time, and a shot list for video.
5 songs a month free, then $0.50 a song. No contract, and you can see real responses without a key.
See the fields on a real song
curl https://api.songbrain.ai/v1/examples/the-fallen-heroes?include=song_dna,timeline
What exactly changed at Spotify
On November 27, 2024, Spotify announced that new Web API use cases can no longer access a list of endpoints, including Audio Features and Audio Analysis. Apps that already had extended access kept it. If you start a product today, those endpoints aren't available to you.
Field by field
| Spotify | Songbrain | Note |
|---|---|---|
| tempo | song_dna.tempo_bpm | plus tempo_confidence |
| key + mode | song_dna.key | "C minor"; key_changes[] with the second each one happens |
| energy | song_dna.energy | 0–1, plus energy per section |
| loudness | song_dna.loudness_lufs | EBU R128 integrated loudness and true peak (Spotify used a dB average) |
| valence, danceability | song_dna.mood[] | mood words such as "nostalgic" or "driving" rather than a number |
| instrumentalness, speechiness | song.has_vocals, song_dna.vocals | vocal style or "instrumental" |
| audio-analysis: beats | timeline.beats | every beat in seconds |
| audio-analysis: bars | timeline.downbeats | first beat of each bar |
| audio-analysis: sections | timeline.sections | with repeat letters (A, B, A …) and relative energy |
| — | best_moments, lyrics, story, shot_plan | not in Spotify: the strongest windows and why, word timings, a shot list |
The other options, honestly
- Essentia: a strong open-source library for beats, key and features that you host yourself. Its licence page says AGPLv3 applies to non-commercial applications and that commercial licences are available from MTG/UPF. Its models are non-commercial (CC BY-NC).
- Cyanite: a hosted tagging API (mood, genre, instruments, energy, similarity) with an API fee from €290 a month. It's built for catalogues and search.
- AcousticBrainz: stopped accepting new data in 2022. The site is still readable, but nothing new gets analysed.
- Apple Music Understanding: a new framework that analyses key, rhythm, structure, pace, instruments and loudness, on Apple devices only. It's not a server API.
Migrating in ten lines
import requests, time
API, H = "https://api.songbrain.ai/v1", {"Authorization": "Bearer sb_live_YOUR_KEY"}
song = requests.post(f"{API}/songs", headers=H, files={"file": open("track.mp3", "rb")}).json()
while (doc := requests.get(f"{API}/songs/{song['id']}?include=song_dna,timeline", headers=H).json())["status"] == "processing":
time.sleep(10)
features = {"tempo": doc["song_dna"]["tempo_bpm"], "key": doc["song_dna"]["key"],
"energy": doc["song_dna"]["energy"], "loudness": doc["song_dna"]["loudness_lufs"]}
beats, bars, sections = doc["timeline"]["beats"], doc["timeline"]["downbeats"], doc["timeline"]["sections"]The full field list is in the API docs.
Common questions
Is the Spotify Audio Features API deprecated?+
For new apps, yes. Spotify's developer blog post of November 27, 2024 says new Web API use cases can no longer access Audio Features and Audio Analysis (among other endpoints). Apps that already had extended access were not affected.
What is the best alternative to Spotify Audio Features?+
If you have the audio file: the Songbrain API returns tempo, key and key changes, energy, loudness and mood, plus a song-wide beat grid, downbeats and sections, which covers what Audio Analysis offered. It also returns things Spotify never had: best moments, word-timed lyrics and a shot plan. 5 songs a month are free, then about $0.50 per song.
Is there a free alternative?+
Essentia is open source, but its licence page says AGPLv3 applies to non-commercial applications and its models are non-commercial. A commercial product needs a licence from MTG/UPF. AcousticBrainz stopped accepting new data in 2022, and Apple's Music Understanding framework runs on Apple devices only.
Can I get Spotify-style features for unreleased songs?+
Yes. Spotify's endpoints only ever worked for tracks in Spotify's catalogue. With an audio-based API you send the file, so demos and unreleased songs work too.