Question

Code to replicate

In my app I have the following code.

var seed = "spotify:artist:3UbyYnvNIT5DFXU4WgiGpP";
  sp.core.getMetadata(seed, {
    onSuccess: function (metadata) {
      console.log(metadata);       
    },
    onFailure: function () {}
  });

Steps to view the behaviour

1. If spotify is already open close it and then reopen it, after opening spotify run the app and view the console Which displays as

Object
    name: "Whitesnake"
    portrait: ""
    type: "artist"
    uri: "spotify:artist:3UbyYnvNIT5DFXU4WgiGpP"
  __proto__: Object

1. Then click on the radio app and create a station based on the the band Whitesnake.
   
2. Rerun the original app and view the console output which will display.

Object
    name: "Whitesnake"
    portrait: "spotify:image:3c4aa30d845dd456d750cf16bef8e2cadb2af342"
    type: "artist"
    uri: "spotify:artist:3UbyYnvNIT5DFXU4WgiGpP"
  __proto__: Object

1. Quit spotify and rerun the original application and view the console which will display

Object
    name: "Whitesnake"
    portrait: ""
    type: "artist"
    uri: "spotify:artist:3UbyYnvNIT5DFXU4WgiGpP"
  __proto__: Object

Question

Why is the radio app able to access a portrait uri that is then accessible from my app after using the radio app? Is there some sort of initialization, that needs to be done first or is this a bug?

Answer 1

Some information on an artist (and album, etc) isn’t available until you do a “browse” on that URI – until then, Spotify only downloads basic information on an item to keep performance up.

What you’re seeing is the Radio doing a browse, which causes the Spotify client to fill in the missing information.

An update to Spotify is coming soon that will improve this behaviour.