Spotify acquires music database WhoSampled

WhoSampled, which is based in London, issued a statement confirming the deal. “This marks an exciting new chapter in our journey, one where WhoSampled will not only continue to grow and improve, but also bring its unique flavour of music discovery to the world’s largest music streaming platform, used and loved by hundreds of millions of fans,” the company said. Financial details were not disclosed.

WhoSampled founder Nadav Poraz said in a LinkedIn post that he will take up the role of head of WhoSampled at Spotify. While its database will be integrated into Spotify, WhoSampled said it will continue operating as a standalone app.

As part of the transition, the company announced that its iOS app is now free to download and its subscription offerings on both iOS and Android have been removed. It said the service will become ad-free in the coming weeks and that moderation times will be reduced, improving the speed of user submissions. WhoSampled added that it will work with Spotify to “improve the WhoSampled experience and build exciting new features.”

According to its published statistics, the platform indexes more than 1.2 million songs, 387 000 artists, 622 000 samples and 460 000 covers.

SongDNA, the first Spotify feature to incorporate WhoSampled’s data, will map connections between tracks using information on collaborators, samples and covers. Spotify said this forms part of a wider expansion of song metadata on the platform. Other updates include extended song credits that will add session musicians, engineers and additional contributors. Spotify also plans to introduce About the Song, swipeable cards providing background details on the creation of individual tracks.

The acquisition continues Spotify’s broader strategy of using targeted purchases to grow its audio ecosystem. Earlier acquisitions include audiobook distributor Findaway in 2021 and several podcast companies — Anchor, Gimlet Media and Parcast — as the service expanded its non-music audio offerings. More recently, Spotify has focused on AI-related technologies, acquiring voice AI company Sonantic in 2022 and content moderation firm Kinzen the same year.