Spotify Artist Search API

Searches Spotify artists by name in any language and returns them a page at a time, each with its Spotify ID, picture and verified badge. Spotify's AI persona label is there too. Set kind=listener for the people, brands and labels that own playlists, with their usernames. The Spotify Artist API adds the bio, followers, monthly listeners, top cities and discography.

GET /v1/spotify/search_artists

Read the API reference

1 credit per page, $0.75–$1.97 per 1,000 pages
19 typed fields null when unknown
100 artists and listener accounts per page, Spotify's own ranking for the query
query is all it needs, e.g. rick astley

Send one request. Get up to 100 artists and listener accounts back.

Copy the request in your language, or hand it to your agent. Sign up for an API key and your first 100 credits are free.

$ npm install socialtap

query = rick astley

Open in playground

GET /v1/spotify/search_artistsTry in

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  kind: "artist",
  query: "rick astley",
});
const res = await fetch(`https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists?${params}`, {
  headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.SOCIALTAP_API_KEY ?? "" },
});
const body = await res.json();
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`${body.error.code}: ${body.error.message}`);
const { data, page, meta } = body;
console.log(data, meta.credits_charged);

import os

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists",
    params={"kind": "artist", "query": "rick astley"},
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"]},
)
body = res.json()
if not res.ok:
    raise RuntimeError(f"{body['error']['code']}: {body['error']['message']}")
data, page, meta = body["data"], body["page"], body["meta"]
print(data, meta["credits_charged"])

require "json"
require "net/http"

uri = URI("https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form('kind' => 'artist', 'query' => 'rick astley')
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["x-api-key"] = ENV.fetch("SOCIALTAP_API_KEY")
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port, use_ssl: uri.scheme == "https") { |http| http.request(req) }
body = JSON.parse(res.body)
raise "#{body["error"]["code"]}: #{body["error"]["message"]}" unless res.is_a?(Net::HTTPSuccess)
pp body["data"]
puts body["meta"]["credits_charged"]

<?php

$query = http_build_query([
    'kind' => 'artist',
    'query' => 'rick astley',
]);
$ch = curl_init('https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists?' . $query);
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => ['x-api-key: ' . getenv('SOCIALTAP_API_KEY')],
]);
$body = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
if (curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE) >= 400) {
    throw new RuntimeException($body['error']['code'] . ': ' . $body['error']['message']);
}
print_r($body['data']);
echo $body['meta']['credits_charged'], PHP_EOL;

package main

import (
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"net/http"
	"net/url"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	q := url.Values{}
	q.Set("kind", "artist")
	q.Set("query", "rick astley")
	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists?"+q.Encode(), nil)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	req.Header.Set("x-api-key", os.Getenv("SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"))
	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()
	var body struct {
		Data  json.RawMessage `json:"data"`
		Page  json.RawMessage `json:"page"`
		Meta  map[string]any  `json:"meta"`
		Error *struct {
			Code    string `json:"code"`
			Message string `json:"message"`
		} `json:"error"`
	}
	if err := json.NewDecoder(res.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	if body.Error != nil {
		log.Fatalf("%s: %s", body.Error.Code, body.Error.Message)
	}
	fmt.Println(string(body.Data), body.Meta["credits_charged"])
}

curl -G 'https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists' \
  --data-urlencode 'kind=artist' \
  --data-urlencode 'query=rick astley' \
  -H "x-api-key: $SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "approximate_fields": [],
      "avatar_url": "https://i.scdn.co/image/ab6761610000e5eb854861dff9a24a1ed3dfdc7d",
      "banner_url": null,
      "bio": null,
      "category": null,
      "country_code": null,
      "created_at": null,
      "display_name": "Rick Astley",
      "external_links": [],
      "id": "0gxyHStUsqpMadRV0Di1Qt",
      "is_private": null,
      "is_verified": true,
      "location": null,
      "metrics": {
        "follower_count": null,
        "following_count": null,
        "post_count": null,
        "total_like_count": null,
        "total_view_count": null
      },
      "platform": "spotify",
      "platform_specific": {
        "spotify": {
          "active_decades": [],
          "ai_persona": null,
          "albums": null,
          "appears_on": null,
          "biography_type": null,
          "compilations": null,
          "concert_count": null,
          "concerts": [],
          "discovered_on": [],
          "discovered_on_count": null,
          "featured_in": [],
          "featured_in_count": null,
          "gallery_urls": [],
          "is_registered": null,
          "latest_release": null,
          "monthly_listener_count": null,
          "music_video_count": null,
          "music_videos": [],
          "pinned_item": null,
          "playlist_count": null,
          "playlists": [],
          "popular_release_count": null,
          "popular_releases": [],
          "popularity": null,
          "related_artist_count": null,
          "related_artists": [],
          "singles": null,
          "top_cities": [],
          "top_tracks": [],
          "world_rank": null
        }
      },
      "type": "unknown",
      "unknown_fields": [
        "external_links",
        "platform_specific.spotify.active_decades",
        "platform_specific.spotify.gallery_urls"
      ],
      "url": "https://open.spotify.com/artist/0gxyHStUsqpMadRV0Di1Qt",
      "username": null
    },
    {
      "approximate_fields": [],
      "avatar_url": "https://i.scdn.co/image/c89848e407aa02ab2ebfe404843812fe16cad5b7",
      "banner_url": null,
      "bio": null,
      "category": null,
      "country_code": null,
      "created_at": null,
      "display_name": "Sheena Easton",
      "external_links": [],
      "id": "5dcOK4stT4JDkP6Dqhbz5s",
      "is_private": null,
      "is_verified": true,
      "location": null,
      "metrics": {
        "follower_count": null,
        "following_count": null,
        "post_count": null,
        "total_like_count": null,
        "total_view_count": null
      },
      "platform": "spotify",
      "platform_specific": {
        "spotify": {
          "active_decades": [],
          "ai_persona": null,
          "albums": null,
          "appears_on": null,
          "biography_type": null,
          "compilations": null,
          "concert_count": null,
          "concerts": [],
          "discovered_on": [],
          "discovered_on_count": null,
          "featured_in": [],
          "featured_in_count": null,
          "gallery_urls": [],
          "is_registered": null,
          "latest_release": null,
          "monthly_listener_count": null,
          "music_video_count": null,
          "music_videos": [],
          "pinned_item": null,
          "playlist_count": null,
          "playlists": [],
          "popular_release_count": null,
          "popular_releases": [],
          "popularity": null,
          "related_artist_count": null,
          "related_artists": [],
          "singles": null,
          "top_cities": [],
          "top_tracks": [],
          "world_rank": null
        }
      },
      "type": "unknown",
      "unknown_fields": [
        "external_links",
        "platform_specific.spotify.active_decades",
        "platform_specific.spotify.gallery_urls"
      ],
      "url": "https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dcOK4stT4JDkP6Dqhbz5s",
      "username": null
    },
    {
      "approximate_fields": [],
      "avatar_url": "https://i.scdn.co/image/ab6761610000e5eb2ebf587c72f9e5159da9ce55",
      "banner_url": null,
      "bio": null,
      "category": null,
      "country_code": null,
      "created_at": null,
      "display_name": "Wham!",
      "external_links": [],
      "id": "5lpH0xAS4fVfLkACg9DAuM",
      "is_private": null,
      "is_verified": true,
      "location": null,
      "metrics": {
        "follower_count": null,
        "following_count": null,
        "post_count": null,
        "total_like_count": null,
        "total_view_count": null
      },
      "platform": "spotify",
      "platform_specific": {
        "spotify": {
          "active_decades": [],
          "ai_persona": null,
          "albums": null,
          "appears_on": null,
          "biography_type": null,
          "compilations": null,
          "concert_count": null,
          "concerts": [],
          "discovered_on": [],
          "discovered_on_count": null,
          "featured_in": [],
          "featured_in_count": null,
          "gallery_urls": [],
          "is_registered": null,
          "latest_release": null,
          "monthly_listener_count": null,
          "music_video_count": null,
          "music_videos": [],
          "pinned_item": null,
          "playlist_count": null,
          "playlists": [],
          "popular_release_count": null,
          "popular_releases": [],
          "popularity": null,
          "related_artist_count": null,
          "related_artists": [],
          "singles": null,
          "top_cities": [],
          "top_tracks": [],
          "world_rank": null
        }
      },
      "type": "unknown",
      "unknown_fields": [
        "external_links",
        "platform_specific.spotify.active_decades",
        "platform_specific.spotify.gallery_urls"
      ],
      "url": "https://open.spotify.com/artist/5lpH0xAS4fVfLkACg9DAuM",
      "username": null
    }
  ],
  "page": {
    "has_more": true,
    "next_cursor": "c1.EXAMPLE_CURSOR",
    "next_cursor_expires_at": "2026-10-26T12:00:00Z",
    "end_reason": null
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "req_3f9c2a7d1e8b4c6a9f0e2d4b6a8c0e1f",
    "platform": "spotify",
    "source": "api",
    "is_cached": false,
    "credits_charged": 1,
    "latency_ms": 814,
    "fetched_at": "2026-10-25T12:00:00Z",
    "input": null,
    "credits_remaining": 9999,
    "client_request_id": null,
    "warnings": []
  }
}

import { SocialTap } from "socialtap";

const client = new SocialTap(); // apiKey defaults to process.env.SOCIALTAP_API_KEY

const res = await client.spotify.searchArtists.list({ query: "rick astley", kind: "artist" });
console.log(res.data);
console.log(res.credits.charged, res.meta.request_id);

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String query = "kind=" + encode("artist")
            + "&query=" + encode("rick astley");
        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create("https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists?" + query))
            .header("x-api-key", System.getenv("SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"))
            .GET()
            .build();
        HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
            .send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        // An error is {"error": {"code", "message", ...}}; success is {data, meta}, meta.credits_charged its price.
        if (response.statusCode() >= 400) throw new RuntimeException(response.body());
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }

    static String encode(String value) {
        return URLEncoder.encode(value, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    }
}

using System.Text.Json;

using var http = new HttpClient();
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("x-api-key", Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SOCIALTAP_API_KEY"));

var query = string.Join("&",
    "kind=" + Uri.EscapeDataString("artist"),
    "query=" + Uri.EscapeDataString("rick astley"));
var res = await http.GetAsync("https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists?" + query);
using var body = JsonDocument.Parse(await res.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
if (!res.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
    var error = body.RootElement.GetProperty("error");
    throw new Exception($"{error.GetProperty("code")}: {error.GetProperty("message")}");
}
Console.WriteLine(body.RootElement.GetProperty("data"));
Console.WriteLine(body.RootElement.GetProperty("meta").GetProperty("credits_charged"));

// Cargo.toml: reqwest = { version = "0.12", features = ["blocking", "json"] }, serde_json = "1"
use std::env;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let res = reqwest::blocking::Client::new()
        .get("https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artists")
        .query(&[("kind", "artist"), ("query", "rick astley")])
        .header("x-api-key", env::var("SOCIALTAP_API_KEY")?)
        .send()?;
    let ok = res.status().is_success();
    let body: serde_json::Value = res.json()?;
    if !ok {
        return Err(format!("{}: {}", body["error"]["code"], body["error"]["message"]).into());
    }
    println!("{} {}", body["data"], body["meta"]["credits_charged"]);
    Ok(())
}

200 OK · GET https://socialtap.dev/v1/spotify/search_artistsLong arrays and strings are shortened here. Real responses are complete.Docs

One schema on 27 platforms.

The response reference lists every field, its type and when it is null. See the full schema.

Null means unknown
A field Spotify doesn't show is null, never zero or an empty string, so a real zero always means zero.
What it accepts
The name to search for, in any language. On artists, Spotify's filters artist:"rick astley" (that name closely) and year:1987 work too.
Write one parser
Spotify, TikTok, Instagram and 24 more platforms answer in these fields, so the code that reads one reads them all.

platformstring: Platform ID (tiktok, youtube, …).
idstring: Platform-native account ID (string; YouTube UC…, Reddit t2_…).
usernamestring: Handle without the @; null when the account has none.
display_namestring: Display name, channel title or page name; null when empty or not exposed.
urlstring: Canonical profile URL.
typestring: Coarse account kind, as the platform labels it; unknown when it does not (TikTok labels organizations only). New values may be added; treat unknown values as unknown.
biostring: Profile bio, channel description or page about text; null when empty or not exposed.
avatar_urlstring: Profile picture URL (largest available). Platform CDN URLs can expire within hours.

What teams build with the Spotify Artist Search API.

Turn an artist's name into a Spotify ID
Tell apart artists who share a name
Match an artist roster against Spotify
Find the account behind a label's playlists

Good to know before you build.

Results are one kind of account: the tracks, albums, playlists and podcasts a query matches aren't in the list.
Search lists no bio, follower count, monthly listeners, links or discography, so those are null or empty, the empty lists named in unknown_fields: the Spotify Artist API returns them.
An artist has an ID and no username. A listener's id is its username, as a playlist's owner shows it, and no endpoint returns a listener's account: the Spotify Artist API refuses it.
Results are in Spotify's order. An artist's order depends on the page size. A listener's doesn't, since it is always read a hundred candidates at a time and cut to the limit. A walk ends with page.end_reason platform_limit where Spotify stops serving.
A short page isn't the end of the list: page.next_cursor says whether it goes on, because Spotify keeps only part of the candidates it reads for a page. When Spotify doesn't say where the list ends, the walk goes on until it does, so its last page can be empty.
Artist filters are artist: and year:. genre: is read loosely, close to plain words, and track:, album:, isrc: and tag: return an empty page. Listeners read no filter.
Spotify answers a weak query with its nearest guesses, so any artist may be a loose match, and many share a name.
When Spotify's search doesn't answer, the first pages come from a web search engine's index, each artist read from Spotify, with a partial_data warning naming the fields it lacks, and Spotify's filters are read as plain words. That list holds only what the index has, often a small part of Spotify's, in the engine's order. A next_cursor stays on the list it came from: if Spotify's search stops answering mid-walk, the next page fails with a retryable error instead of switching lists. Listener search has no fallback: its failure is the answer.
An empty query, a Spotify URI or a link to a Spotify page returns invalid_input, naming the endpoint that takes it where there is one. For a link to Spotify's search page, send its words instead.

1 credit per page. Failed requests are free.

Buy credits once and spend them on any endpoint, on any platform.

Plans and packs How this endpoint is priced How credits work

Source	Price per successful page	Per 1,000 pages
Any source	1 credit	$0.75–$1.97

Cache hits are free.
Credits from packs and top-ups never expire.
A monthly plan's credits are spent first, and what is left of them ends at each renewal.
Prices exclude tax: sales tax is added at checkout where it applies.
Outside the US, plans and packs are sold to businesses: checkout asks for your VAT, GST or other business tax ID.

Questions about the Spotify Artist Search API.

Try it with your own search.

Type it in the playground, or copy the request into your code.

free credits

No credit card
Failed requests are free
Works on all 218 endpoints

Start for free Read the docs

Spotify Artist Search API. Artists and listener accounts matching your search.