Actual release date

Hi!

First off, I love what you’re doing. I’ve been looking for something like this for ages. One question (or suggestion): currently creating playlists based on release date is not perfect, since Spotify labels re-issues of old albums as new. BUT there is in fact a field for Original release date hidden somewhere. See the attached screenshot of Madonnas single Frozen. It was released in 1998, as stated, but gets sorted under 2021.

If you look at the screenshot of my 2020s playlist created using Playlistation, the far right column shows the field “Utgivningsdatum”, which is Swedish for Release date. As you can see this has many songs released in the 1990s.

So there must be two separate fields for Release date. It would be fantastic if you could add an option to choose the correct one.

All the best,

Anders, Sweden

Posted by Andynista · Oct 28

Thomas Bernard

Team•

Oct 28

Hi Anders,

Thanks for the kind words, and for the screenshots.

You found a real quirk. The "Frozen" in your 2000s playlist isn't the 1998 single. It's the copy on Madonna's Celebration compilation:

In your playlist (Celebration, 2009): https://open.spotify.com/track/6PguKBDpqpepiMwsOwwhjG
The original single (1998): https://open.spotify.com/track/5P1qYxFEcGteX6a2vkSMQC

Here's what Spotify sends apps like Playlistation for the Celebration one:

{
  "id": "6PguKBDpqpepiMwsOwwhjG",
  "name": "Frozen",
  "album": {
    "name": "Celebration",
    "release_date": "2009-09-18",
    "release_date_precision": "day"
  }
}

That's the answer to https://api.spotify.com/v1/tracks/6PguKBDpqpepiMwsOwwhjG (Spotify's "Get Track" request: https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/web-api/reference/get-track).

When I open https://open.spotify.com/track/6PguKBDpqpepiMwsOwwhjG, Spotify shows me the song on Celebration, 2009:

Could you open https://open.spotify.com/track/6PguKBDpqpepiMwsOwwhjG and tell me what you see? Does it say Celebration, 2009, or the Frozen single, 1998?

If your app shows the 1998 single, Spotify is linking the two versions in its own app, and that link isn't shared with apps, so Celebration's 2009 date is the only one I get. "Dress You Up" looks like the same case. The 2021 on the single's page is the copyright year, not a release date.

If you'd rather have it in your 1990s playlist, like it from the Frozen single: https://open.spotify.com/track/5P1qYxFEcGteX6a2vkSMQC. The playlist picks it up at its next update.

I'm looking at ways to work out the original year myself. No promise on if or when, but your example is a good test case, so thanks for sending it.

Thomas

Actual release date

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