Spotify is rolling out more detailed song credits in an effort to engage listeners more deeply with their favorite music.
Thus far, Spotify’s song credits included topline performers, songwriters and producers. The new credits expand that to include “all of the contributors who make each song possible,” including background vocalists, musicians, and engineers.
“The more fans understand the careful craft that underpins the music they love, the deeper their fandom grows and the more invested they become in the people who create it,” Spotify said in a blog post on Wednesday (November 19).
Though Spotify didn’t directly address the issue, the move also looks like something of a shot across the bow of AI-generated music, as AI-made tracks would lack the song credit detail found on human-made music.
The streaming service also announced two upcoming features for Premium users: ‘SongDNA’ and ‘About the Song.’
SongDNA is an interactive feature that maps connections between songs via collaborators, samples and covers. The feature, which will appear in Premium users’ ‘Now Playing’ view, sources sample and cover data from WhoSampled, which has been integrated into Spotify.
It will enable fans to “dive into the influences behind the music they love, while giving sampled and covered artists fresh ways to get discovered and celebrated.”
About the Song will be swipeable cards offering in-depth info about the origins of a track, such as the inspiration behind it or interesting stories about its creation. Spotify says the info will come from “third parties,” but didn’t elaborate.
“Every song is a collaboration, and every contributor should be seen.”
Jacqueline Ankner, Spotify
Creators will get a sneak preview of SongDNA and About the Song in Spotify for Artists, giving creators the opportunity to fact-check the data before the features go live. Creators will be able to redeliver the credits if there are inaccuracies, and offer feedback to Spotify.
“Every song is a collaboration, and every contributor should be seen,” said Jacqueline Ankner, Spotify’s Head of Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships.
“With expanded Song Credits, SongDNA, and About the Song, we’re giving fans a deeper look at the people and creative threads behind the music they love and giving creators the recognition they deserve.”
“So many incredible creatives contribute to a track, and recognizing them publicly can be life-changing,” Mix Engineer Manny Marroquin said.
“Accurate credits open doors, whether it’s new work, new relationships, or simply being seen. Spotlighting the full team behind each song makes our industry stronger and more inclusive.”
Producer Mike Dean said the new features harken back to the record and CD era, when reading liner notes “was a big thing to do” while listening.
“We used to listen, read, and dream of being listed one day. Later in my life, when my career started, people discovered me through the credits long before the internet was popular,” he said.
“A lot of information gets lost in metadata when labels deliver, and credits for assistant engineers, additional producers, mastering engineers, and others often get left off. So I think expanding Song Credits and SongDNA are great steps forward in modernizing credits.”
“Spotlighting the full team behind each song makes our industry stronger and more inclusive.”
Manny Marroquin
The expanded data on songs comes amid a busy period of new rollouts for Spotify, which recently launched its “super-premium” subscription tier, dubbed Premium Platinum, in five pilot markets: India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
Spotify also announced this week that its audiobooks offering is expanding to five more European countries, including its home country of Sweden, along with Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Monaco.Music Business Worldwide
