Radiant launched with a paid subscription model (like a dollar a month) Spotify shut it down, took away our API creds and left us in the lurch. Had to set it up again, with the subscription removed. That hurt because we had a good number of paying customers at that point.
But we moved to be compliant with their guidelines after that and I carried it on as a labour of love.
Now I'm actively looking at moving away from Spotify and on to my own data set and APIs that can match what Spotify has. I've built something like it before using the Cover Art Archive for the artwork, Acoustic/MusicBrainz for the metadata and custom logic built atop so I know it's possible.
Once I've done that I can start looking for sponsors.
There is always the possibility that if the userbase really scales up, Spotify would grant me a commercial license and allow me to commoditise the platform but I don't need that to happen really.
But we moved to be compliant with their guidelines after that and I carried it on as a labour of love.
Now I'm actively looking at moving away from Spotify and on to my own data set and APIs that can match what Spotify has. I've built something like it before using the Cover Art Archive for the artwork, Acoustic/MusicBrainz for the metadata and custom logic built atop so I know it's possible.
Once I've done that I can start looking for sponsors.
There is always the possibility that if the userbase really scales up, Spotify would grant me a commercial license and allow me to commoditise the platform but I don't need that to happen really.