Spotify has acquired community-driven music discovery platform WhoSampled, bringing its vast database of samples, covers, and remixes into the heart of the world’s largest streaming service. The deal adds a specialized layer of “music DNA” intelligence to Spotify’s product roadmap while preserving WhoSampled as a distinct destination. For millions of listeners, this move signals deeper context around the songs they already stream every day.
Overview of the Acquisition
Spotify announced the acquisition of WhoSampled alongside a broader update on new song credits and metadata features. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Spotify confirmed the transaction covers both WhoSampled’s team and its underlying database. The company being acquired is small, with public data indicating roughly ten employees who will now operate under the Spotify umbrella.
WhoSampled’s Role in Music Discovery
Founded in 2008 and based in London, WhoSampled has become a reference point for music fans who want to understand how tracks are interconnected. Its catalog tracks more than 1.2 million songs and nearly 622,000 samples, as well as covers, remixes, and artist relationships. The platform built a loyal community that obsessively documents which songs borrow, flip, or reinterpret elements of earlier recordings.
Strategic Fit with Spotify
Spotify and WhoSampled were not strangers before this deal, having partnered in 2016 to let users plug their Spotify playlists and saved tracks into the WhoSampled app. Through recent discussions, both companies emphasized a shared belief in the value of musical context as a driver of engagement and discovery. By acquiring WhoSampled outright, Spotify secures a mature, community-powered dataset that can be woven into core listening experiences.
What Changes for WhoSampled Users
WhoSampled will continue to operate as a standalone platform and brand, which means existing users will not lose the experience they know. The site will still be powered by its global community of contributors and supported by integrations with multiple streaming services, not just Spotify. At the same time, the backing of a major platform gives WhoSampled more resources to scale its moderation and feature development.
Improved User Experience and Monetization Model
The company has already flagged specific upgrades that will come with Spotify’s support, starting with faster moderation so submission waiting times fall sharply. WhoSampled also plans to remove display ads from the site in the coming weeks, promising a cleaner and faster browsing experience for fans. On mobile, both the iOS and Android apps will become free to download, and in-app subscriptions on both platforms will be made free for all users.
Community and the “Music DNA” Mission
WhoSampled has framed the acquisition as fuel for its long-standing mission to build the world’s greatest database of Music DNA. The contributor and moderator community remains central to that vision, since human expertise is what validates whether a sample or interpolation is correctly identified. With Spotify’s backing, the team expects to expand coverage across genres, eras, and regions while keeping the community ethos intact.
SongDNA and Deeper Integration into Spotify
The first visible product of this deal inside Spotify will be SongDNA, a new feature designed to surface connections within and between tracks. Powered by WhoSampled’s data, SongDNA will help listeners see how songs sample, cover, or reference others without leaving the Spotify environment. Over time, this type of contextual layer could enhance discovery, keep users engaged longer, and differentiate Spotify’s product experience from competing services.
The acquisition of WhoSampled by Spotify brings a niche, community-driven music intelligence platform into the mainstream of global streaming. Users of WhoSampled gain a cleaner, faster, ad-free experience with free mobile access, while Spotify gains a powerful data engine to underpin new discovery tools like SongDNA. As the two teams work together, the deal could reshape how listeners understand the history, influences, and hidden stories behind the music they love.