Sorting and Displaying Musicians by Region and Style Using Spotify's API

Other Questions Spotify
1

I’m working on a project to show artists from Vietnam, the US, and the UK based on music styles using Spotify’s API. I want to get 30 artists from each country for every style. But I’m running into some issues:

  1. Some artists show up more than once
  2. Not all artists are from the three countries I picked
  3. I’m not getting exactly 30 artists per country like I wanted

Can someone help me figure out what’s going wrong? Here’s a simplified version of my code:

const fetchArtists = async (country, style) => {
  const token = await getApiToken();
  const response = await axios.get('https://api.spotify.com/v1/search', {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` },
    params: {
      q: `genre:${style}`,
      type: 'artist',
      market: country,
      limit: 30
    }
  });
  return response.data.artists.items;
};

useEffect(() => {
  const getArtists = async () => {
    setVnArtists(await fetchArtists('VN', genre));
    setUsArtists(await fetchArtists('US', genre));
    setUkArtists(await fetchArtists('GB', genre));
  };
  getArtists();
}, [genre]);

Am I using the API wrong? Or is there a better way to filter and display the artists?

2

As someone who’s worked extensively with Spotify’s API, I can shed some light on your issues. The problems you’re encountering are pretty common, actually.

First off, the ‘market’ parameter doesn’t filter artists by country - it’s for content availability. To get artists from specific countries, you’ll need to use the ‘artist.country’ field in a separate API call for each artist.

Duplicates are happening because Spotify’s search isn’t perfect. You might want to implement your own deduplication logic.

For the count issue, Spotify’s API doesn’t guarantee exact results. You might need to make multiple requests and combine results to hit your target number.

A more robust approach would be to use Spotify’s ‘Browse’ API to get playlists by country, then extract unique artists from those. It’s more work, but you’ll get more accurate results.

Remember, working with APIs often requires some creative problem-solving. Keep at it!

3

I’ve encountered similar challenges with Spotify’s API. The ‘market’ parameter isn’t ideal for filtering by artist origin. Instead, consider using the ‘artist.country’ field after fetching artist details.

For duplicates, implement a set or map to track unique artists. This ensures each artist appears only once in your final list.

To get exactly 30 artists per country, you might need to overfetch and then trim the results. Alternatively, paginate through the API results until you reach your desired count.

Remember that Spotify’s data isn’t always complete or accurate, especially for less prominent artists. You might need to supplement with additional data sources for a comprehensive solution.

Lastly, consider rate limiting and error handling in your requests to avoid API throttling issues.

4

Hey, i’ve dealt with similar stuff before. the market parameter isn’t really for filtering artists by country, it’s more about where their music is available. you might wanna look into using the artist.country field instead.

for the duplicates, maybe try keeping track of the artists you’ve already added and skip em if they show up again. good luck with your project!