Application Programming Interfaces are a fantastic way to spread a service. If you get developers hooked, then up pop thousands of spinoff apps and services, all using your content.
This isn’t a bad thing - look at last.fm and Twitter. Their API’s are used in loads of places. They are names you can trust because you see them everywhere.
The key though is to make it real easy for developers to access your content/service/whatever.
Having said that, Phil Nash Industries seems to be doing ok with spotify.
