Calling all coders — Code Quest 2012 is here!

At Spotify, we’re always looking for top-notch talent to join our NYC team. We figured throwing a contest would be a great way to go about it!

Code Quest 2012 is a web-based competition where we put your coding skills to the test. During the contest, you will be given between 6 and 8 problems to solve in C, C++, or Java. Problems will be of an algorithmic character.

Participating in Code Quest is a quick and easy way to get your résumé to the top of our list of applications. Plus, there’s a bunch of exciting prizes up for grabs, including an Alienware M18x, iPad 2 32 GB with WiFi and Sonos Play 5.

Be sure to register today to get in on all the action. For all the details, click here. Happy hacking!

If you’ve recently noticed the odd track re-syncing in your offline playlists, there’s no need to worry. We’re currently working on some exciting improvements to make Spotify even better.

This means that you may need to re-sync a small number of tracks as we update our catalogue.

Please bear with us for a short time while we work to improve Spotify. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

Today two iconic forces that have impacted the past 50 years – the life-saving human rights activism of Amnesty International and the incomparable artistry of Bob Dylan – are being saluted by 80 musicians who contributed new or previously unreleased recordings to Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International.

An epic collection, Chimes of Freedom features a stellar and diverse group of artists across the generational and musical spectrum. The talented performers including Adele, Kesha, K’NAAN, My Morning Jacket, Queens of the Stone Age, and Silversun Pickups range in age from Miley Cyrus, 19, to folk music legend Pete Seeger, who, at 92, records Dylan’s poignant “Forever Young,” with a children’s chorus.

The diversity of the musicians and musical genres — from rock, rap, hip-hop to pop, folk, country, jazz and blues — attests to Amnesty’s depth of support in the music community, the universal appeal of the core message of human rights, and the breadth of Dylan’s impact on culture.

A moving tribute to 50 years of Bob Dylan songs and a meaningful campaign to Amnesty’s great work, Chimes of Freedom is a must-listen! Tune in here!

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a number of great uses of the Spotify Platform that have enabled wonderful new musical experiences. In-client experiences such as Songkick’s integration and Last.fm’s discovery engine. Third party mobile apps like SpotOn and Soundrop. And now we have another great project to let you know about.

One of our Mac OS X engineers has released a libspotify-based desktop client for OS X Lion, Viva, that he’s built to test libspotify and CocoaLibSpotify and as an interesting ‘side project’.

While this isn’t an official Spotify client it is another example of just how powerful and easy it is to build upon the Spotify Platform. If you’re running OS X Lion feel free to check it out, it’s a little rough around the edges but still great to use.

If you’re a developer and want to learn how to build something yourself using the Spotify Platform check out our developer site now.

Millions of users listen to Spotify’s streaming music service world wide. And behind the scenes we have a world class technology organization, continuing to make Spotify the best music service available.

If you are interested in meeting some of our great engineers and more people who have taken the time to do develop something cool with our service, you are welcome to join any of our groups!

We have Tech Meetups in Stockholm and in New York. And we have two upcoming events this January. Check them out on the next links:

Click here to join the New York Meetup group.

If you want to join the Stockholm Meetup group, come this way.

We are delighted to see great applications created by other developers using the Spotify Platform. We’re really impressed by one that’s been released this week, SpotON Radio , a third-party radio application for iOS devices.

SpotON Radio allows you to create personalized radio stations on your iOS device. These stations mix your Spotify favourite tracks with similar songs. Just download the application to your iOS device, login with your Spotify or Facebook credentials and start discovering new music!

These are some other features that SpotON Radio offers:

• Create personalized radio stations based on any artist
• Like and dislike songs to fine tune your stations entirely to your own taste
• Add new tracks or export the entire stations’ history directly into your Spotify playlists
• You can skip as many songs as you like

It’s a great way to find new music similar to your own taste! And it is all powered by Spotify’s huge music catalogue and EchoNest’s song recommendation engine.

Spotify Premium subscribers can enjoy SpotON Radio right now. Head over to the App Store to get it.

We present you the music selection that our friends from Sharemyplaylists have handpicked for this month.

Best of Annie Mac 11
If you like your dance music, check out this collection of bangers from Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac’s end-of-year show. There’s 2011’s biggest tunes from the likes of The 2 Bears, Duck Sauce, Chase & Status and Toddla T, alongside classics from Inner City, A Guy Called Gerald, Daft Punk and Utah Saints. And loads more besides – 60 tracks, in fact.

I, Partridge
The literary event of 2011 was, unquestionably, the autobiography from north Norfolk’s greatest living broadcaster, Alan Partridge. If you haven’t got your copy of I, Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan, get one now. Or, better still, get the audiobook – it’s ace. Also worth checking out is this accompanying soundtrack created by Alan himself (aka SMP user Mike Chatterton). We’re pleased to see this one in the chart.

Unsigned Finds: Best of 2011
Okay, we know you’re probably bored with the end-of-year lists, but this one from Unsigned Finds is so good we had to bring it to your attention. And we guarantee you won’t find a best-of list quite this anywhere else. For the best new and unsigned bands from the past 12 months, get clicking here. Go on, then – what you waiting for. Now!

~ K-Pop 4 Dummies ~
Next up, SMP user Freddie Buddy would like to introduce you to K-pop – that’s pop music from Korea, you know. Sadly, Kim Jong-il’s cover of Ain’t No Fun (If The Homies Can’t Have None) didn’t make this list, but there’s still some bloody good music here. A lot of it is as mad as a box of frogs, of course, but it’s good nonetheless.

January 2012 - Acid Jazz Hispano
Quite simply one of the best playlists you will ever hear on Spotify, or anywhere else for that matter, it’s Acid Jazz Hispano. Acid jazz, funk, soul, electro, house, rare groove, disco, R&B and hip-hop – they’ve got it all. This month featuring Jurassic 5, Clyde Alexander & Sanction, Donny Hathaway, Q-Tip, The Bahama Soul Club, Public Enemy and The Universal International Orchestra, among many, many others. Brilliant.

Consultthis Music: De La Soul sampled
Incredible reception for this one on the SMP Facebook page. De La Soul – the greatest hip-hop act of all-time – are the subject of this playlist. If you want to know where they pilfered their hooks from, check out Consultthis Music: De La Soul sampled: Johnny Cash, Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown, Average White Band and more.

RIP 2011: Remembering Those We Lost This Year
This superb playlist, as the title suggests, pays tribute to many of the artists that died in 2011: Amy Winehouse, Gil Scott-Heron, DJ Mehdi, Dobie Gray, Bert Jansch, Gerard Smith and Nate Dogg, among others. Sorely missed – all of them.

Kieron’s Electro Mix Vol.8
Next, an expertly curated electronic music playlist from SMP’s very own Kieron, his ace Kieron’s Electro Mix Vol.8. If you missed episodes 1-7, allows us to fill you in. Basically, right, there’s all this amazing electro music that wants to take over your cerebellum and force you to bust moves like James Brown on hot coals. Damu The Fudgemunk, Fred Everything, Weirdo Police, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Felix Da Housecat, Laid Back and a cast of thousands also star in this one. And they’re all probably having affairs with each other, or something.

Dave Godin’s Deep Soul Treasurers
Another playlist that received a big reaction for this one on the SMP Facebook page – and a must-hear mixtape for serious soul-heads – is Dave Godin’s Deep Soul Treasurers. It features such soul gems as Jimmy Holiday, Doris Duke, The Soul Children Bobby Moore & The Formosts, George Perkins and The Silver Stars and more. And it’s absolutely brilliant.

Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey was pretty big in 2011, but she’s going to be huge in 2012. Whatever successes come her way, will she ever match the unbridled joy creating a playlist for SMP brings? Probably not. She’s got good taste in music, has Lana Del Rey: Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, Nat King Cole and more feature on this on.

In the second installment of VICE Meets Spotify: Music Loves Art, we hang out with soul legend Sharon Jones and renowned visual artist Mickalene Thomas. The women chat about their different mediums, what inspires their work, and how they got their start.

Watch as Mickalene and Sharon show Miami what it means to get down and get ready to discover the heart of soul.

Stayed tuned next week for another behind the scenes glimpse of Music Loves Art.