How to Visualize Spotify Data in Python with pandas

The rich ecosystem of Python modules lets you get to work quickly and integrate your systems more effectively. With the CData API Driver for Python, the pandas & Matplotlib modules, and the SQLAlchemy toolkit, you can build Spotify-connected Python applications and scripts for visualizing Spotify data. This article shows how to use the pandas, SQLAlchemy, and Matplotlib built-in functions to connect to Spotify data, execute queries, and visualize the results.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData Python Connector offers unmatched performance for interacting with live Spotify data in Python. When you issue complex SQL queries from Spotify, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to Spotify and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to Spotify Data

Connecting to Spotify data looks just like connecting to any relational data source. Create a connection string using the required connection properties. For this article, you will pass the connection string as a parameter to the create_engine function.

Using OAuth Authentication

Spotify uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. You will need to create an application in the Spotify Developer Dashboard to obtain your client credentials.

Setting Up Your Spotify Application

1. Visit the Spotify Developer Dashboard.
2. Log in with your Spotify account and click Create app.
3. Provide an app name, description, and set a Redirect URI (e.g.,

   http://localhost:33333

   for desktop applications).
4. Copy your Client ID and Client Secret from the app settings.

Connection Properties

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

• AuthScheme: Set this to OAuth.
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to manage the process to obtain the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: Set this to your Spotify application's Client ID.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to your Spotify application's Client Secret.
• Scope: Set this to the required OAuth scopes (space-separated). The default includes all read scopes needed for the tables in this profile.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URI configured in your Spotify application (e.g., http://localhost:33333).

Example Connection String

Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip;AuthScheme=OAuth;InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH;OAuthClientId=your_client_id;OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret;CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333;

Available OAuth Scopes

• user-read-private: Read access to user's subscription details and explicit content settings.
• user-read-email: Read access to user's email address.
• user-library-read: Read access to a user's saved tracks, albums, episodes, shows, and audiobooks.
• playlist-read-private: Read access to user's private playlists.
• playlist-read-collaborative: Read access to collaborative playlists the user follows.
• user-follow-read: Read access to the list of artists the current user follows.
• user-read-playback-state: Read access to a user's player state (device, current track, progress).
• user-read-currently-playing: Read access to a user's currently playing content.
• user-read-playback-history: Read access to a user's recently played tracks.
• user-top-read: Read access to a user's top artists and tracks.

Follow the procedure below to install the required modules and start accessing Spotify through Python objects.

Install Required Modules

Use the pip utility to install the pandas & Matplotlib modules and the SQLAlchemy toolkit:

pip install pandas
pip install matplotlib
pip install sqlalchemy

Be sure to import the module with the following:

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

Visualize Spotify Data in Python

You can now connect with a connection string. Use the create_engine function to create an Engine for working with Spotify data.

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip&AuthScheme=OAuth&InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH&OAuthClientId=your_client_id&OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret&CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333")

Execute SQL to Spotify

Use the read_sql function from pandas to execute any SQL statement and store the resultset in a DataFrame.

df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT , FROM Albums WHERE Id = '4aawyAB9vmqN3uQ7FjRGTy'", engine)

Visualize Spotify Data

With the query results stored in a DataFrame, use the plot function to build a chart to display the Spotify data. The show method displays the chart in a new window.

df.plot(kind="bar", x="", y="")
plt.show()

👁 Spotify data in a Python plot (Salesforce is shown).

Free Trial & More Information

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData API Driver for Python to start building Python apps and scripts with connectivity to Spotify data. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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Full Source Code

import pandas
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from sqlalchemy import create_engin

engine = create_engine("api:///?Profile=C:\profiles\Spotify.apip&AuthScheme=OAuth&InitiateOAuth=GETANDREFRESH&OAuthClientId=your_client_id&OAuthClientSecret=your_client_secret&CallbackURL=http://localhost:33333")
df = pandas.read_sql("SELECT , FROM Albums WHERE Id = '4aawyAB9vmqN3uQ7FjRGTy'", engine)

df.plot(kind="bar", x="", y="")
plt.show()