In the final 12 months, I suffered the misfortune of losing all my playlists when I transitioned from Apple Music to Spotify. To me, playlists are necessary. Snapshots of a moment in your life – perhaps the languid days of summer 2016 had its own distinct soundtrack playing in the background. Despite their historical reluctance, music streaming providers have yet to simplify the process of transferring playlists between platforms.
You’ll recall the enthusiasm with which you’d anticipate seeing Apple Music’s latest developments in the context of the Knowledge Switch Initiative – a collaborative project between Apple, Google, and Meta aimed at creating tools for seamless knowledge portability. The European Union’s Digital Markets Act mandates that designated “gatekeeper” companies, tasked with stifling competition and entrenching their market dominance, must establish and finance “switch instruments” as part of a comprehensive strategy to curb the predatory practices of Large Tech giants and ensure users can easily switch between platforms.
Lastly! Despite its numerous advantages, there was a significant limitation to consider. Despite being touted as innovative, the instruments fail to seamlessly integrate with Spotify, the world’s most popular music platform. It appears that Spotify has missed the memo on information portability, leaving users frustrated and searching for alternative solutions. The DTI’s primary function is limited to transferring content between Apple Music and YouTube Music, rendering it relatively unhelpful for the majority of users.
The Director-General of the Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI), Chris Riley, shares a growing frustration with Large Technology companies’ lock-in insurance practices. He has been seeking to persuade additional companies to re-engage in negotiations, with the aim of making their services more portable.
“We’ve become deeply ingrained in this new reality,” said Riley in a recent interview with TechCrunch. “People often overlook this crucial requirement.”
Acknowledging the DTI’s limitations, Riley suggested switching my playlists from Apple Music to Spotify using a free third-party tool. Instead of working directly with streaming providers, Soundiiz develops portable tools through existing APIs, acting as a mediator that facilitates seamless communication between the parties. Within minutes, I was able to link my accounts, switch my playlists, and start streaming my former Apple Music playlists on Spotify seamlessly. It was superior and straightforward.
With Soundiiz, seamlessly transfer playlists across multiple platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, SoundCloud, and numerous lesser-known streaming services I’ve never encountered before. The intuitive user interface allows for seamless attachment of streaming services, enabling users to effortlessly select and switch between curated playlists, including those created by others.
The story behind Soundiiz, which may shed light on its remarkable effectiveness at a fraction of the cost. Two French friends, Thomas Magnano and Benoit Herbreteau, founded the venture in 2013 while sharing a passion for music and collaborative coding. Through countless nights, developers worked tirelessly to design and build a revolutionary music search interface, incorporating insights gathered from various online sources. Over the duration of their collaboration, the team successfully developed an exceptional tool.
Despite not creating the music search interface, Soundiiz evolved from a playlist switcher.
I required flexibility in working with application programming interfaces (APIs) and investigated the alignment between various suppliers’ offerings. In a candid conversation with TechCrunch, Magnano revealed that he developed personal playlists and frequently transferred them between platforms – a habit born out of his own internal needs. As I shared this trait with my colleague, we both acknowledged its value, recognizing that what’s beneficial for one may also be beneficial for others.
By 2015, Soundiiz achieved significant momentum after partnering with Tidal, the music streaming platform founded by Jay-Z. To simplify the transition from Spotify to Tidal, the music platform sought to seamlessly transfer users’ comparable playlists, leveraging Soundiiz’s assistance. Despite this, Magnano notes that Tidal permitted users to export playlists in a manner consistent with their requirements, allowing for proper data transfer and not just limited importing capabilities – a fundamental demand they make of any music service API they collaborate with.
As usage of Soundiiz surged, its founders transitioned from part-time to full-time entrepreneurs, yet remained committed to their core values. Two Soundiiz founders derive a living from the platform while telling TechCrunch they’re “not looking to get rich.” Magnano notes that Soundiiz has never pursued external investments in order to keep costs low, allowing the founders to maintain control over their vision and direction.
While Soundiiz offers its basic features for free, there are some limitations to be aware of. One notable constraint is that longer playlists are automatically shortened, capped at 200 songs in length. Moreover, switching between playlists requires a series of consecutive transfers, each taking a few minutes to complete, thereby prolonging the overall process when dealing with a dozen or more playlists. For an enhanced experience, Soundiiz offers a premium plan priced at $4.50 per month, allowing you to bypass these restrictions upon sign-up, with the option to cancel should your needs change.
Despite being co-founders, the two individuals remain the sole employees at Soundiiz, their efforts yielding significant growth: Over the past decade, Soundiiz has facilitated the transfer of more than 220 million playlists for hundreds of thousands of users. Despite never investing a single dollar in advertising and marketing, according to Magnano, the company’s leadership has consistently stated that it never intended to do so.
“In 2012, a Google search for ‘switch Deezer to Spotify’ yielded no results,” Magnano noted. “As Soundiiz emerged as the top search result on Google, our commitment to SEO excellence has allowed us to consistently maintain a high ranking.”
According to Magnano, Spotify’s potential losses likely outweigh gains should it follow the lead of rivals Apple and Google by switching its playlist feature, with little expectation of a swift change. Despite this, he claims that all streaming services are aware of Soundiiz’s capabilities and thus approve of its functionality; in fact, some have even incorporated it into their own FAQs. It’s improbable that any of them would enthusiastically promote playlist swap services like Soundiiz beyond this point.
