Spotify Enhances Musical Capabilities with Acquisition of WhoSampled
In a move reflecting Spotify's ambition to expand its analytics tools and deliver a more immersive music experience, the company announced its acquisition of WhoSampled, one of the most popular databases specializing in tracking music samples, covers, and remixes.
Enhancing Music Discovery Tools
This acquisition coincides with Spotify's announcement of new features that help listeners understand the musical context of the songs they love, including SongDNA, which relies on the extensive data provided by WhoSampled.
The British platform, launched in 2008, is a leading source providing accurate records of over 1.2 million songs and approximately 622,000 music samples, making it a significant acquisition for Spotify.
A deal focused on team and data
Spotify did not disclose the terms of the deal, but confirmed that its primary goal is to acquire the WhoSampled team along with its entire database. Available data indicates that the company has a small team of approximately ten employees, making the integration smoother and faster.
The platform will continue, but with improvements
Despite the acquisition, WhoSampled confirmed that its platform will continue to operate independently while maintaining its identity. It also pledged upcoming improvements, including:
1. Accelerating the review of user requests.
2. Removing display ads in the coming weeks.
3. Making mobile apps completely free.
The platform explained that the collaboration with Spotify enhances its vision of providing listeners with a deeper understanding of song backgrounds and artistic connections.
An evolving relationship
This is not the first partnership between the two. WhoSampled collaborated with Spotify in 2016 to allow users to link their accounts and sync playlists. However, the current acquisition takes this relationship to a new level, centered on integrating music data into the core of the listening experience.