The Echo Nest, the company that powers competing services like Twitter Music, Rdio, and others, is now owned by Spotify. It doesn’t mean that those services will cease to exist: Echo Nest’s API will remain accessible, says Spotify, and the Echo Nest headquarters will remain in Somerville, Mass., where they have always been. Thus many are confused exactly what this means for Spotify and The Echo Nest, but on speculation it seems that Spotify will likely leverage The Echo Nest’s system for recommending songs and filtering listeners into different genres – thus it will better be able to target relevant advertising and music to the listeners who want it the most. It’s a tenuous purchase though: Spotify now has control over the back end service that powers its chief rivals in a budding ecosystem that brands and marketers are keen to keep a close eye on. It bodes well for Spotify, but perhaps not for its competitors.