Spotify acquires music database WhoSampled

Spotify has acquired the community-run database for tracking music samples, WhoSampled, the company announced Wednesday. The streaming service also shared the news as part of its blog post on Wednesday about the new song credits features.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Spotify confirmed to TechCrunch that the acquisition is for both the WhoSampled team and the database. (The company only had a handful of employees, according to data on PitchBook and LinkedIn, both of which confirm about 10 employees.)

Launched in 2008, WhoSampled is based in London and offers an extensive database of songs, samples, covers, remixes, artists and more. According to its website, it now tracks more than 1.2 million songs and nearly 622,000 samples. This data powers Spotify’s latest features, like its upcoming music discovery tool SongDNA, which was also announced on Wednesday.

However, WhoSampled has been known to Spotify for some time, having partnered with the streaming device in 2016 to allow its users to access their Spotify playlists and saved tracks in its app.

In WhoSampled’s announcement of the acquisition, the company said its standalone platform and brand will remain after the deal closes, and it expects it will offer some user-facing improvements when it becomes part of the larger Spotify business. For example, the company said moderation times for submissions will be sped up, the site will be able to remove display ads in the coming weeks, and its mobile apps will become free downloads with free subscriptions.

“Through our recent discussions with Spotify, it has become clear that we share a strong belief in the power of musical context — and a vision for helping listeners delve deeper into the songs they love,” the post penned by the WhoSampled team read. “Spotify has shown a true commitment to our mission, and we couldn’t have found a better home for WhoSampled.”