Spotify acquires music database WhoSampled

Spotify has acquired the community-run database monitoring sampled music, WhoSampled, the firm introduced Wednesday. The streaming service had additionally shared the information as a part of its Wednesday weblog publish about new tune credit options.

Deal phrases weren’t disclosed, however Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch the acquisition is for each the WhoSampled staff and database. (The corporate had solely a handful of workers, per information on PitchBook and LinkedIn, which each verify round 10 staffers.)

Launched in 2008, London-based WhoSampled gives an intensive database of songs, samples, covers, remixes, artists, and extra. In response to its web site, it’s now monitoring greater than 1.2 million songs and practically 622,000 samples. That information is powering Spotify’s newest options, like its upcoming music discovery instrument SongDNA, additionally introduced on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, WhoSampled was identified to Spotify for a while, because it had partnered with the streamer again in 2016 to permit its customers to entry their Spotify playlists and saved tracks in its app.

In WhoSampled’s announcement concerning the acquisition, the corporate mentioned its stand-alone platform and model would stay after the deal’s closure, and it anticipated to supply some user-facing enhancements because it turns into a part of Spotify’s bigger enterprise. For example, the corporate mentioned moderation instances for submissions could be sped up, the positioning will be capable of take away show adverts within the weeks forward, and its cell apps will grow to be free downloads with free subscriptions.

“By way of our current discussions with Spotify, it turned clear that we share a robust perception within the energy of musical context — and a imaginative and prescient for serving to listeners go deeper into the songs they love,” the publish penned by the WhoSampled staff reads. “Spotify has proven a real dedication to our mission, and we couldn’t have discovered a greater house for WhoSampled,” it acknowledged.