Spotify's New Features: Discover the Stories Behind the Music

Spotify Enhances Music Discovery with New Features

On Wednesday, Spotify unveiled a suite of innovative features aimed at highlighting the contributions of those involved in music creation. This includes recognizing producers, engineers, songwriters, and vocalists, among others.

Alongside this, the company is introducing tools designed to reveal the connections between songs and the influences that shaped them.

Introducing SongDNA: Exploring Musical Lineage

A key component of these updates is SongDNA, an interactive feature that details song samples, cover versions, and the collaborative projects of the artists involved.

Reports from TechCrunch in October indicated Spotify’s development of SongDNA, stemming from code discoveries made by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong. This feature empowers Spotify users to delve into the wider discographies of those who contributed to a track.

Previously, the Song Credits feature primarily displayed information regarding performance, songwriting, and production.

The data regarding sampled music originates from WhoSampled, a community-driven database that Spotify has acquired. It’s worth noting that TIDAL also provides interactive credits, allowing users to explore the contributors behind songs.

"About the Song" Feature: Uncovering Inspiration and Impact

Spotify is also preparing to launch “About the Song,” a feature presenting swipeable cards within the “Now Playing” view.

These cards will provide insights into the song’s inspiration, its backstory, cultural significance, and related details. Information will be sourced from external resources and linked directly within the cards.

Spotify previously experimented with similar background information through a partnership with Genius, offering details on select tracks’ origins. However, this was limited to Genius’s existing database.

The upcoming feature will link to a broader range of sources, including Wikipedia and various news outlets, as demonstrated in screenshots.

Rollout and Availability

The expanded Song Credits will become available on mobile devices starting Wednesday, with a desktop release planned for the coming months.

Access to SongDNA and About the Song will be exclusive to Premium subscribers. However, their initial launch is scheduled for early next year as part of the Spotify for Artists Preview program.

This preview phase will allow musicians and their teams to review the accuracy of the information before it is released to the general public.