How does Songkick import your iTunes data?

Question

Today I found Songkick.com which offers the possibility to scan your iTunes library, how do they do it? I tried to google around but I couldn't find an API from Apple for it, do you have any idea?

Answer 1

Songkick loads a java applet in web browser that has read-only access to file system. It refers to iTunes library file, for example on mac at /Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml to read all the tracks and their metadata.

Since iTunes doesn't work as a web service, it would not have an API.