How to Scrape Spotify Playlist Data Using Python

Data scraping can be described as the automated gathering of data from websites, and in the case of Spotify, it means collecting information about tracks, artists, albums, and other useful elements for analytics or creating music applications.

Using Python helps extract Spotify playlists as well as the artist's name, and tracks. This is possible thanks to the Spotify API, which allows you to obtain data legally and without violating rules. However, if the API does not provide the necessary tools, you can use web scraping. BeautifulSoup and Selenium are perfect for scraping Spotify.

In this Spotify data scraping tutorial, you will learn how to install libraries, work with the Spotify API, apply scraping, and save data in CSV.

Install the Required Libraries

So, we already know what tools are suitable for scraping Spotify data using Python. Now, let's look at how to install the necessary libraries:

pip install beautifulsoup4
pip install selenium
pip install requests

So, what purpose does each one serve?

• BeautifulSoup is a very handy library that allows for information retrieval from web pages. It goes through the HTML code of the web page from top to bottom and then snatches the necessary elements. It is used in processing static content too, for instance extracting the list of tracks from a page that is currently open.
• While BeautifulSoup works great with static sites, this is not enough to work with dynamic content. Dynamic websites need some form of user engagement and that is where Selenium steps in. This library helps you to programmatically open web pages, press buttons, type text, scroll, and engage with various elements on the site.
• Requests library is used to create HTTP requests. With it, you can easily send a GET or POST request and handle APIs. If you don’t need a lot of engagement with the site, such as through Selenium, then using Requests is more simple and straightforward.

Download the Web Driver

To enable Selenium to control the browser and interact with Spotify, it needs a web driver. This is a special software that can automatically open pages, click buttons, etc.

We're gonna use ChromeDriver, download it from the official website and then unpack it and save the path to it.

from selenium import webdriver

driver_path = "C:/webdriver/chromedriver.exe"  # Replace with your path
driver = webdriver.Chrome(driver_path)
driver.get("https://google.com")

Define Function to Scrape the Data

When scraping Spotify playlist, you need to analyze the HTML code of the page and determine which elements contain the necessary information. Let's start with Python Spotify playlist scraping following the step-by-step guide below.

1. HTML Page Analysis

In the browser, by pressing F12, you can see the HTML structure where the necessary elements are located. Example of such a structure:

<div class="tracklist-row">
    <span class="track-name">name</span>
    <span class="artist-name">artist</span>
    <span class="track-duration">3:45</span>
</div>

2. Setting Up Selenium

To collect information, we will use Selenium to load dynamic content and BeautifulSoup for parsing HTML.

from selenium import webdriver
import time
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

3. Function to Collect Data from a Playlist

Below is an example of web scraping Spotify using Python, which opens the playlist page, analyzes the HTML code, and extracts information about the songs.

How it works:

1. The browser opens the playlist page.
2. Selenium automatically scrolls the page to load all songs.
3. BeautifulSoup analyzes the HTML code and finds the necessary elements by classes.
4. Information about the track title, artist, and duration is extracted.

def get_spotify_playlist_data(playlist_url):
   # Launch the browser through Selenium
   options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
   options.add_argument("--headless")  # Run in headless mode (without browser window)
   driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)

   driver.get(playlist_url)
   time.sleep(5)  # Wait for the page to load

   # Scroll the page to load all tracks
   driver.execute_script("window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight);")

   # Get the HTML code of the page
   html = driver.page_source
   driver.quit()

   soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "lxml")

   # Find all tracks
   tracks = []
   for track in soup.find_all(class_="IjYxRc5luMiDPhKhZVUH UpiE7J6vPrJIa59qxts4"):
       name = track.find(
           class_="e-9541-text encore-text-body-medium encore-internal-color-text-base btE2c3IKaOXZ4VNAb8WQ standalone-ellipsis-one-line").text
       artist = track.find(class_="e-9541-text encore-text-body-small").find('a').text
       duration = track.find(
           class_="e-9541-text encore-text-body-small encore-internal-color-text-subdued l5CmSxiQaap8rWOOpEpk").text

       tracks.append({"track title": name, "artist": artist, "duration": duration})

   return tracks

Call the Function

To call the function, pass the Spotify playlist URL to it. The function opens it, scrapes the Spotify playlist data with Python, and returns a list of song titles, artists, and durations.

playlist_url = "https://open.spotify.com/album/7aJuG4TFXa2hmE4z1yxc3n?si=W7c1b1nNR3C7akuySGq_7g" 

data = get_spotify_playlist_data(playlist_url)
for track in data:
   print(track)

Handling Authentication for Spotify API

To gather information from Spotify’s API, you will need a token. This can be gotten through authentication. You will not be able to make requests to the API without it. The next part will detail how this may be achieved.

1. Register the Application

Go to the Spotify Developer Dashboard, log into your account or create one if you do not have one yet. After logging in, register the application, fill out the form that includes a name and a description. Upon completion, a Client ID and Client Secret will be generated for you.

2. Obtain the Token

To obtain the token, we will use requests in Python.

import requests
import base64

# Your account data
CLIENT_ID = "client_id"
CLIENT_SECRET = "client_secret"

# Encoding in Base64
credentials = f"{CLIENT_ID}:{CLIENT_SECRET}"
encoded_credentials = base64.b64encode(credentials.encode()).decode()

# Sending a request to obtain the token
url = "https://accounts.spotify.com/api/token"
headers = {
    "Authorization": f"Basic {encoded_credentials}",
    "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
}
data = {"grant_type": "client_credentials"}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=data)
token = response.json().get("access_token")

print("Access Token:", token)

By this means, we append the information received previously and encrypt it in a certain manner to ensure that the request for obtaining the token is sent properly. This is a security measure which is common across many APIs. After that, we send a get request for the token. Once we obtain it, it will be printed to the console.

3. Make Requests

Once you have the token, you can make requests.

artist_id = "6qqNVTkY8uBg9cP3Jd7DAH"
url = f"https://api.spotify.com/v1/artists/{artist_id}"

headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)
artist_data = response.json()

Store Extracted Data

To save the collected data in JSON format for further analysis, we will use the standard Python library.

playlist_url = "https://open.spotify.com/album/7aJuG4TFXa2hmE4z1yxc3n?si=W7c1b1nNR3C7akuySGq_7g"


data = get_spotify_playlist_data(playlist_url)


with open('tracks.json', 'w', encoding='utf-8') as json_file:
   json.dump(data, json_file, ensure_ascii=False, indent=4)
   print("Data saved to tracks.json")

Best Practices for Scraping Spotify Playlist Data

Following ethical practices will ease the process of Spotify scraping using Python. For this, obtain the official API of Spotify because it gives you legal access to information without violating any rules. When web scraping, remember to throttle the rate of requests if the API is not serving all of your requirements to avoid server strain.

The website’s policy is found in the robots.txt, so check that before scraping the website. Also, proxy servers are helpful in preventing blocks.

Conclusion

This guide to data collection has shown Python Spotify scraping examples as well as additional information needed for proper scraping process handling.

Let’s highlight the key points:

• As BeautifulSoup analyzes the HTML page and comprises powerful information collection features, it is perfectly suited for static sites.
• When it comes to dynamic sites that require user interaction, Selenium is by far the best option. It enables the automatic pushing of buttons, scrolling of pages, and fetching of dynamic content.
• There are rules to ethical scraping. Following them will prevent someone from getting blocked or overloading the server. It is preferred to use the Spotify API instead of parsing HTML.

Using these Spotify scraping tools with Python allows you to easily and quickly collect the necessary data, optimizing the process of analyzing musical content.