- References to SongDNA information found within the Spotify app
- Designed to offer visual navigation of song contributors.
- It can look like TIDAL credits, so you can find new music from the creators of what you already like.
Spotify appears to be working on a feature that’s a lot like TIDAL Credits, allowing you to 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 place the image below in X before Spotify removed the relevant code from the app. It seems to offer a new way to discover music, browsing song credits.
As a musician, that’s a 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 thanks to her live work with Peter Gabriel, and I sought out more records with producer Jack Antonoff after hearing her work with Taylor Swift.
This is particularly fun in genres like hip-hop and pop, where a whole cast of people are behind some of your favorite tracks, as well as many others, so if you like Taylor Swift’s new album produced by Swedish supreme Max Martin, following the thread of their collaborations will take you through The Weeknd. I can’t feel my faceBritney Baby one more time and the Backstreet Boys I want it like this. And that, clearly, is time very well spent.
What do we know about Spotify SongDNA?
As TechCrunch reports, the feature lets you do things like see what else artists have appeared in; Wong’s example was finding out what other Rei Ami songs KPop Demon Hunters had appeared in
Another engineer, Chris Messina, found more information: The lines of code indicate that SongDNA will include the entire network of contributors, not just the performers.
Features like this aren’t just good for fans and driving recommendations. They’re also useful for artists and their people: if you’re looking for someone to make beats, or contribute a very particular style, or sprinkle their production magic on your songs, this type of discovery can help you find collaborators around the world.
TIDAL got there before Spotify, so its TIDAL Credits feature gives us an indication of what we might expect: it lets you check who played the guitar, who recorded the song, who sat 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 classifies songs not just by their credits but by hundreds of different “features,” including what beat the song has, the gender of the lead vocalist, whether the guitar is clean, crunchy, or turned up to eleven, etc. That data then powers the personalization engine for pop/rock, hip-hop/electronica, jazz, world music, and classical music.
Spotify has now removed the SongDNA code, but when approached for comment the streamer declined to make a statement, indicating that this is indeed a live project, although it is still shrouded in mystery.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to receive news, reviews and opinions from our experts in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
