Python script to fetch the meta data of the currently playing track in Spotify. Tested on Ubuntu.

now_playing.py

#!/usr/bin/python
#
# now_playing.py
# 
# Python script to fetch the meta data of the currently playing
# track in Spotify. This is tested on Ubuntu.

import dbus
bus = dbus.SessionBus()
try:
  spotify = bus.get_object('com.spotify.qt', '/')
  iface = dbus.Interface(spotify, 'org.freedesktop.MediaPlayer2')
  meta_data = iface.GetMetadata()
  artistname = ",".join(meta_data['xesam:artist'])
  trackname = meta_data['xesam:title']
  albumname = meta_data['xesam:album']
  #Other fields are:
  # 'xesam:trackNumber', 'xesam:discNumber','mpris:trackid',
  # 'mpris:length','mpris:artUrl','xesam:autoRating','xesam:contentCreated','xesam:url'
  print str(trackname + " | " + artistname + " | " + albumname + " | Unknown")
except dbus.exceptions.DBusException:
  print "Spotify is not running."