Credit Report

A few years back, I found myself staring at the Wikipedia page for Frank Ocean’s 2016 album Blonde in utter shock.

Some context is in order. Blonde was (and still is) one of my favorite albums of all time. It’s one of the few I’ll come back to, year after year, and find it just as fresh as the last time I heard it.

In the time since Blonde had come out, my musical taste continued to broaden. I got into alt-R&B artist James Blake after a friend dragged me to his set at a music festival. I beamed with pride as one of my long time favorite artists Alex G began to see greater popular success and visibility with his 2019 album House of Sugar. And as I dipped my toes into electronic music, I found myself entranced by VEGYN’s hypnotic synth progressions.

So why was I staring at my laptop screen dumbstruck? Well, as it turns out, all three of these artists, unbeknownst to me, had worked on Frank Ocean’s Blonde.

As I sat there taking it all in, my mind jumped from amazement – this record suddenly meant even more to me – to regret – why didn’t I know about this sooner? – to suddenly an idea that reshaped how I discover music.

From songwriting, to arranging, to producing, to recording, to sampling, there are many ways that artists can contribute to other artists’ albums. Conversely, most artists’ work features the contributions of others.

In other words, the music we listen to exists not in a vacuum but in a network of direct creative influence. In my experience, traversing this network yields highly predictive recommendations of music I like, which transcend era and genre.

On some level this seems obvious. If I really enjoy one artist, I’m likely to enjoy music from artists who had a direct hand in shaping the music I already like.

But actually trying to discover music this way is easier said than done. Back when albums were only released in physical formats, these contributions would typically be credited in the album's liner notes that came tucked in the CD case or album sleeve.

If you, the listener, wanted to see a definitive list of everyone who contributed to a track you liked, you could be sure that you could readily find that information and that it would be accurate.

With the advent of digital formats, online distribution platforms, and later streaming services, this certainty began to unravel. For years now, digital listeners have had no sure-fire way to identify all the people who worked on the music they listen to.

Though major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have both taken the step of building a place for the song credits to go, the information that ends up there can often be dreadfully incomplete. Even when accurate credit information does exist, there is no place on either platform for users to see all of an artist's collaborations all in one place.

To get a sense of the problem, consider Blonde. As of March 2024, Spotify's song credits show 7 people (including Frank Ocean) as having worked on Blonde. The correct number is 82. This includes multiple Grammy award-winning artists, up-and-coming alternative artists, and samples from decades ago.

Star Power

Lasting Influence

In a world where perfect credit information was easily accessible, young and old listeners alike would be able to discover new songs that resonated with someone they already listened to. So what stands in the way? To get an answer as to what is causing the inaccuracies in credit information on streaming platforms, I spoke with Michael Kushner, Senior Vice President at Warner Music Group, who has worked in the record industry since 1987.

As Kushner explains: "Record companies create label copy based on what we are told by the artist, who is responsible for delivering the recordings under our recording agreements. The A&R (artists and repertoire) folks who work with the artists help ensure accuracy, which is something we always strive for. That label copy is supplied as metadata to the streaming services, but the services themselves are not consistent about what data they display, and where."

Whether any major streaming platform will devote the considerable resources to fix this leaky data collection pipeline remains to be seen. In the meantime, you can get a sense of what kinds of music discovery such a change would enable by exploring the full list of artists, producers, and samples from Frank Ocean's album Blonde below: