Spotify announced that outside developers are welcome to create applications for the popular online music service.

To further this initiative, it has entered into partnerships with Rolling Stone, SongKick, TuneWiki and others.

This is a move that could distinguish the Swedish company from its competitors like Google, Amazon and Apple.

Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek, addressing a press conference in New York, said that as Spotify becomes a musical platform, developers can create beautiful, responsive apps. He added, "We think this will lead to integrations that keep Spotify beautiful and simple, but layer in great musical experiences designed to be social and fun."

Other partners launching apps for Spotify are Billboard, Fuse, The Guardian, Last.fm, Moodagent, Pitchfork, Soundrop and We Are Hunted.

Though created by third parties, the apps will remain subject to Spotify’s approval, Ek said.

Spotify, launched in 2008, claims to have a database of 15m tracks and is adding about 20,000 per day.

According to recent figures, the company has 10m active users in 12 countries, of whom 2.5m pay for a premium, advertisement-free version.

Users can listen to an unlimited amount of music on a computer during the first six months. After that, free listening is restricted to 10 hours per month.