Singles included in albums are different?

[at8official]

Hey all, 

I am an artist on Spotify and planning to release something like an album soon. I want to release a few songs from the album separately as singles, but still included in the album. How do I go about that?

I asked my aggregator and their answer was that I had to release the song first as a single, then release it again in the album. However, this will mean that the ISRC will be different, causing it to be shown as 2 different songs? I know this is achievable as seen in artists like Kygo where Spotify recognises they are tha same songs and syncs the play count. So that on their "Top Tracks" section, the song does not appear twice, and the streams can either come from the album or the single. 

I know there has been a similar enquiry, but what wasn't answered was the steps I have to take to make sure Spotify recognises it. Do I have to contact Spotify after the album release and request the songs to be synced? Or do I have to organise this with my aggregator. 

Thank you. 

[Maxim · Accepted solution]

Hey @at8official,

This is not something Spotify can just set up on request. Track linking might not be possible if you don't use the same ISRC for the song.

As you've already mentioned, Track linking is specifically designed to provide a better user experience by removing duplicate tracks from the charts section, popular tracks section, and avoiding gaps in playlists due to territorial availability. Tracks that are linked will subsequently share a play count.

Track linking is never 100% guaranteed. When attempting to track link two versions of a recording, the metadata should be as identical as possible (i.e. duration, title, version, artist, ISRC), and the audio used should be the exact same. Chances of track linking are decreased with each differing piece of metadata between the two recordings. New audio fingerprints create new Spotify recording groups, which have a unique play count. This is calculated for each different recording of a composition.

To ensure there is no disruption in service please ensure all replacement content is:

• Exactly the same as the initial delivery in regards to track audio, ISRC, product type (single / album) and metadata to encourage track linking.
• Delivered at least 5 business days in advance of the set live date.

To minimise disruption in user experience:

• Please wait until both releases are live in the client, and see if they have linked by comparing the play counts prior to removing the old content.
• Alternatively, if you wish to remove the old content at the same time the new content goes live, please make sure the new content has an end date which matches the live date of the new content, or a takedown to take effect the same day as the new content goes live.

Disclaimer: Please note that during this period of transition there may be some fluctuation in the popular tracks section of your artist page, this is normal and you will find that popular tracks will normalise within 72 hours of the new content being live on the client.

[at8official]

Thanks for the reply, as I understand, I need the same track details and ISRC. However, my aggregator does not allow me to set an ISRC code, only the UPC/EAN code and the Release Title. If I create a new release with the same name and the same audio file, is there a possibility that the tracks will link even if the ISRC is different?

[Maxim]

There's a possibility that it will work, but it's not very likely if the ISCRs aren't the same. 

Maybe you can look for another distributor that allows you to do this. 🙂

[at8official]

I understand now, thank you!

[mutton]

Im late to this discussion sorry.

Is artwork a factor in this? IE: for track linking to work, should the artwork also be the same on both single and album?