How Trackhunter interacts with music stores
Trackhunter is designed to streamline the music discovery workflow for professional DJs. Our goal is to connect users with new music and facilitate purchases on your platform as efficiently as possible.
Data Retrieval Methods
Trackhunter acts as a specialised client-side browser that accesses store content in one of two ways:
Official API Integration: Whenever possible, Trackhunter uses official APIs, strictly adhering to rate limits, authentication requirements, and data usage policies.
Direct User Initiated Requests: In the absence of an API, the app performs a targeted request to public facing track pages. This is a user initiated action, just like a standard web browser loading a page on demand.
Respecting Platform Integrity
No Server Side Scraping: All requests originate from the user’s individual device and only on demand. Trackhunter does not maintain independent databases of your catalogue on our servers.
Optimised Bandwidth: Unlike a standard browser, Trackhunter does not download unnecessary page artifacts (heavy css, images, scripts etc.). This makes our requests significantly lighter on your servers than a typical web visit.
Intelligent Rate Limiting: Even though requests are user initiated, we have implemented internal throttles to ensure that multiple page discovery sessions don’t compromise store performance.
Short Term Caching: We utilise a brief session based, cache of HTTP responses on the device just like a standard browser to prevent redundant requests for the same track data, further reducing server load.
Audio & Asset Handling
Trackhunter does not host, store, or redistribute your audio or artwork past the technical requirements needed for the user to preview the tracks in order to make purchase decisions.
On Demand Streaming: Audio previews and artwork are streamed directly from your official CDNs only when the user hits "Play".
No Storage: No copyrighted audio or image files are stored locally beyond the standard volatile cache needed by the native player in the same way a standard browser operates. We only store the track metadata required for the user to manage their shortlist and complete purchases.
Summary
Trackhunter should be viewed as a high efficiency music browser tailored for the professional DJ community. By removing the "noise" of a standard web interface, we help DJs to find, preview, and ultimately purchase more music from your store in less time.
