- References to SongDNA information found in the Spotify app
- Designed to provide visual navigation of song contributors
- Can look like TIDAL credits, so you can find new music from the creators of what you already love
Spotify seems to be working on a feature that looks a lot like TIDAL Credits, which lets you discover and find more music from all the people behind your favorite songs.
The feature, called SongDNA, was discovered in the Spotify app code by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong, who luckily managed to get the image below on X before Spotify removed the corresponding code from the app. It seems to offer a new way to discover music, by navigating through the song credits.
As a musician, that’s a real rabbit hole I’ll happily fall down, because I love learning the connections between songs and the people who make them — and I’ve discovered some of my favorite artists through their work with others.
For example, I fell in love with Paula Cole’s voice through her live work with Peter Gabriel, and I sought out other records featuring producer Jack Antonoff after hearing his work with Taylor Swift.
It’s especially fun in genres like hip-hop and pop, where a whole cast of people are behind some of your favorite bangers as well as many others – so if you like Taylor Swift’s new album produced by Swedish supremo Max Martin, following the thread of her collaborations takes you through The Weeknd. I can’t feel my faceat Britney’s Baby again and the Backstreet Boys I want it like this. And it’s clearly time very well spent.
What do we know about Spotify SongDNA?
As TechCrunch reports, the feature lets you do things like see what other artists have appeared on; Wong’s example was to find out what other Rei Ami songs Demon Hunters KPop had appeared on.
Another engineer, Chris Messina, found more information: The lines of code indicate that SongDNA will feature the entire network of contributors, not just the performers.
Features like this aren’t just good for fans and fueling recommendations. They’re also useful to artists and their collaborators: if you’re looking for someone to create beats, or to bring a very particular style, or to sprinkle their production magic on your songs, this kind of discovery can help you find collaborators around the world.
TIDAL came before Spotify, so its TIDAL Credits feature gives us an indication of what we can expect: it lets you check who played the guitar, who recorded the song, who was sitting behind the mixing board, who wrote the lyrics and more.
As TechCrunch points out, you can go even further with the data: Pandora’s Music Genome Project ranks songs not only by their theme music, but also by hundreds of different “traits,” including how grooved the song is, the gender of the lead singer, whether the guitar is clean, crisp, or turned up to eleven, and more. This data then feeds the personalization engine for pop/rock, hip-hop/electro, jazz, world music and classical music.
Spotify has now removed the SongDNA code, but when the streamer was contacted for comment, it declined to make a statement – indicating that it is indeed a live project, although it is still shrouded in mystery.
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