Online music giant Spotify has today acquired music discovery service Tunigo for an undisclosed sum.

Tunigo is a startup that is reported to have raised around $3 million in funding, and has a team of approximately 20 staff split between Stockholm and New York. Tunigo and Spotify have had a close relationship for the last few years; by downloading the free Tunigo app (available on iPhone and Android), Spotify users gain access to Tunigo’s vast array of recommended playlists, designed to suit all manner of moods and environments.

Interestingly, Tunigo avoids algorithms that automatically serve up music, instead going exclusively with professionally curated or user-submitted playlists. Tunigo claims the human element is really important. “Think of us as your 24/7 personal music assistant…your music concierge, your musical matchmaker!” states the startup. “We offer the easiest and most fun way to find, create, and share new music and playlists on Spotify. With Tunigo you will discover specific music for all occasions, grouped by the real events of your life.”

The Tunigo team will be integrated into Spotify’s bases in Sweden and New York.

Spotify launched its platform for mobile apps in 2009, and Tunigo was chosen as one of its first partners. Daniel Ek, CEO and founder of Spotify, has previously stated: “The launch of Spotify’s new platform, with integrated music apps developed together with the best in the industry, takes a new approach to music. We have worked closely with Tunigo and the result is a unique app that brings with it an even better and more enjoyable music experience with Spotify.”

For Spotify, the deal comes at a time of major global expansion. The world’s largest music streaming service has just launched in Mexico – its first push into the huge Latin American market – and has also gone live in Asia, in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. And recent launches in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland mean the service is now accessible in a total of 28 countries.

“Spotify is the biggest and most successful music streaming service of its kind globally, with more than 24 million active users and over 6 million paying [monthly] subscribers,” claims the company. “Since its launch in Sweden in 2008, Spotify has driven more than half a billion US dollars to rights holders and expects to drive another half a billion US dollars to rights holders during 2013.”