Spotify Launches SongDNA and About the Song Features to Highlight Artists’ Work More
- Martina
- 23 March 2026, Monday
Amid the ever-evolving music scene and the strong influence of AI technology, Spotify believes that now, more than ever, it’s important to spotlight the human creatives behind every track. In response, the streaming platform is expanding its Song Credits and introducing new SongDNA and About the Song features.
Expanded Song Credits
Song Credits have traditionally been an important part of every song’s identity on Spotify, highlighting the creatives behind their creation. Previously, the feature only displayed topline performance, songwriting, and production credits. As a result, Song Credits are now being expanded to include all contributors, such as engineers, mixers, background vocalists, instrumentalists, and session musicians.
These credits will be sourced directly from information provided by labels and artist distributors, so keeping your metadata complete and up to date through your label or distributor, such as iMusician, is essential.
The expansion aims to make the creative process behind each song more transparent, shedding light on the community of people needed to turn an idea, vision, and story into the songs audiences love.
Spotify SongDNA: Mapping Musical Connections
SongDNA, Spotify’s new feature, directly connects to the Song Credits and offers an interactive map view that shows connections between individual songs, featuring collaborators, samples, and covers all in one place. The idea behind this supports Spotify’s belief that listeners don’t just want to press play; they want to know where a song comes from and how interconnected tracks and collaborators are.
The tool offers fans, as well as other artists and creators, a story behind the song’s creation, allowing them to explore deeper into its roots and influences. It also provides artists who are sampled or covered with new ways to be discovered and championed. For example, a listener playing a Drake track could trace sampled influences back to 90s hip-hop, while fans of Regina Spektor might gain a better understanding of how classical music compositions have shaped her sound.
Samples and covers in SongDNA are sourced from WhoSampled, a comprehensive online database now part of Spotify. The feature is currently available in limited beta through the Spotify for Artists Preview program for select creators and as a testing feature for some Premium listeners. It will eventually be available to all Spotify Premium listeners in the Now Playing view.
Eligible artists, primary contributors, and profile admins can experience the tool via their Spotify for Artists profile, where they can review and manage track-related information as the feature continues to develop.
For more details on accessing the tool as an artist and how to show and hide contributors and song connections, visit the Spotify for Artists SongDNA support page.
About the Song: Interactive Storytelling
Spotify’s efforts go beyond SongDNA; it also lets listeners explore artists’ creative processes more deeply through About the Song. This feature consists of short, swipeable story cards that reveal the meaning behind the music being played. They include brief background stories, behind-the-scenes moments, and interesting details from third-party sources that explain how the song came to be.
About the Song is currently rolled out in beta on mobile (iOS and Android) in English for Premium users in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. As with SongDNA, users can read the interactive About the Song cards in the Now Playing view.
Why Spotify’s New Features Matter
Spotify’s newly introduced features mark a shift from passive listening to more contextual music discovery. By expanding Song Credits and launching features like SongDNA and About the Song, the platform aims to turn tracks into explorable data points where contributors, influences, and stories are highlighted alongside the audio itself. This aligns with broader listener behavior: it is widely believed that audiences are increasingly interested in the background, context, and meaning of the music they enjoy. This curiosity often stems from a desire to form a deeper connection with the artist, and understanding who wrote, produced, or inspired a track adds another layer of engagement.
One of the most vivid modern examples of how song meanings and context matter to listeners is seen in the fandom surrounding Taylor Swift. Swifties, her passionate fanbase, are known worldwide for dissecting and analyzing her lyrics, tracing references, and hunting for Easter Eggs – hidden clues, messages, and symbols embedded in Swift’s lyrics, videos, outfits, and more. Features like SongDNA and About the Song effectively encourage this behavior, providing fans with built-in tools to explore connections and backstories directly within the platform.
Meanwhile, the expanded song credits aim to better address a long-standing gap in the music industry: the visibility of behind-the-scenes contributors. By highlighting songwriters, engineers, and session musicians more prominently, Spotify not only acknowledges their work but also creates new pathways for discovery that can lead to increased visibility, recognition, and future opportunities.
Nevertheless, while Spotify’s new features might deepen context and discovery, their success will ultimately depend on the quality of the metadata, user adoption (Do users genuinely want to learn more, or would they prefer to passively listen?), and whether increased visibility truly provides meaningful value for creators.
Image Credit: Spotify for Artists (from “Spotlighting the people, connections and stories behind your music”)
Martina is a Berlin-based music writer and digital content specialist. She started playing the violin at age six and spent ten years immersed in classical music. Today, she writes about all things music, with a particular interest in the complexities of the music business, streaming, and artist fairness.
