Spotify was announced on Tuesday the global launch of a new feature, SongDNA, that lets listeners explore their favorite music more deeply.
Now available to Premium subscribers on iOS and Android, the feature provides an interactive experience that allows users to identify other elements of a song beyond the singer, songwriter or musician. With SongDNA, listeners could explore other connections, such as who may have covered that song, as well as other information such as samples, jams, or what other projects the song’s collaborators have also been involved with.
The idea is something of an extension of the existing ‘About the Song’ feature, allowing Spotify customers to learn more about the writers, producers and collaborators behind their favorite music. This could lead users to see how artists are connected and influenced by each other’s work. For those in the music industry itself, the feature could help them find new collaborators, producers, engineers and others they might want to work with.
It also gives those behind the scenes of music production more visibility and credibility than they previously had in the streaming era.
TechCrunch reported in October that Spotify developed the SongDNA feature as a way to help users discover music through a song’s credits, after references to the feature were spotted in the app’s code by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong. The following month, the company officially confirmed its plans to release SongDNA in early 2026.
In part, SongDNA is built on top of data from the community-created online music database WhoSampled, which Spotify acquired last year. The feature also competes with TIDAL interactive creditswhich similarly focus on the contributors behind the songs you stream.
“By bringing together collaborators, samples and covers in one place, we’re making it easier for fans to discover new music and see how songs connect and come to life, while giving songwriters, producers and rights holders meaningful recognition for the part they play in its creation,” said Jacqueline Ankner, head of Spotify at Publis, Partners.
The feature is now in beta to Premium users worldwide on iOS and Android devices, with plans to roll out sometime in April.
