Do I cite the songwriter or the performer?

The performer, in APA and in the Harvard guides followed here. APA's template says singer or composer, and its own published example puts the band first: Nirvana for Smells like teen spirit. MLA's guidance is to list the performer or band as the author of a recording, with the lyricist-composer in the contributors slot where that matters — though note that both of the MLA Style Center posts involved are flagged by MLA as eighth-edition content, so check them against the ninth edition.

How do I cite a song I heard on Spotify or Apple Music?

Give the platform in place of the physical format. Sheffield's Harvard guide has a digital-formats entry that uses the streaming URL and a download date; APA adds the URL after the label. Whichever you use, say which release you heard, because streaming services carry remasters and reissues under the same cover.

What about a classical recording?

The conductor, orchestra and soloists are contributors, and the recording has its own date separate from the composition. Give the composer, the work, the performers, the label and the recording year, and say in your text when the piece was written if that matters to your argument.

Do I need a timestamp?

For a specific passage, yes — it is the equivalent of a page number. Give it in the in-text citation: (Nirvana, 1991, 1:30). For a whole song, no.

How do I quote lyrics?

Carefully. Lyrics are in copyright, and quoting more than a line or two in a published work usually needs permission. In an assignment, quote what you need and cite the recording. If you are quoting a printed lyric sheet or a published songbook, that is a different source and is cited as a text.

How to Cite a Song or Music Recording

Music references confuse people because the same song exists in many forms: a track on an album, a single, a remaster, a live recording, a cover version, a stream. The styles handle this by asking for the recording, not the composition: who performed it, on what release, published by whom, in what format. Once you decide which release you listened to, the rest follows.

The worked example is a real recording, verified in the MusicBrainz release database on 22 September 2026: Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on Nevermind, released in the United States on 24 September 1991 on DGC Records. It is also the example APA publishes in its own Common Reference Examples handout, which is why it is used here.

What to Collect

The performer or group, or the composer for a classical work
The song title, and the album it appears on
The release year of the recording you heard
The record label
The format: CD, vinyl, streaming service, download
A timestamp, if you are pointing at a passage

Quick Reference by Major Style

APA (7th Edition)

The template below is the one the University of Queensland Library publishes in its APA 7th guide; the example is APA's own, from the Common Reference Examples handout (7th ed., last updated 3 March 2026).

Singer or composer, A. A. (Year). Song title [Song]. On Album title. Record Company. URL

Nirvana. (1991). Smells like teen spirit [Song]. On Nevermind. DGC.

In-text: (Nirvana, 1991), or with a timestamp, (Nirvana, 1991, 1:30)

For a whole album, the description changes and there is no container:

U2. (1988). Rattle and hum [Album]. Island; Sun Studio; Point Depot; Danesmoat; STS Studio; A&M Studios; Ocean Way.

When you are citing a reissue of an older recording, the same guide adds "(Original work published Year)" after the label.

MLA (9th Edition)

MLA builds the entry from the template of core elements and puts the format in the supplemental slot at the end.

One caveat before you copy anything here. The MLA Style Center's dedicated post "How do I cite a song?" was published on 9 October 2017 and now carries MLA's own banner: "This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition." MLA has not replaced it, so it is still the only worked song example MLA publishes free of charge — but it is eighth-edition guidance, it calls that final slot the "optional-element slot", and the ninth edition is the authority. Check the entry against the MLA Handbook, 9th ed., before you submit. With that said, these are MLA's own examples, quoted as published:

Snail Mail. "Thinning." Habit, Sister Polygon Records, 2016. Vinyl EP.

Snail Mail. "Thinning." Bandcamp, snailmailbaltimore.bandcamp.com.

The same pattern for the verified recording:

Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Nevermind, DGC Records, 1991. CD.

In-text: (Nirvana)

MLA's guidance is that how you cite a song depends on how you accessed it: physical media get the album as the container and the label and year; a streaming service goes in the container slot with the site's URL.

Chicago (18th Edition)

The Chicago Manual of Style is subscription-only. Murdoch University Library's Chicago 18th edition notes-bibliography guide publishes this form for sound recordings, leading with the performer and their credit, and including the medium and duration:

Performer, Composer or Director, A, credit. Title: Subtitle. Special credits. Publisher, Year. Format, duration. URL (if appropriate).

Murdoch's own worked example is: Young, Dougie, vocalist. The Songs of Dougie Young. "I Don't Want Your Money." National Library of Australia, recorded in 1994, compact disc, 3:13 min. Applying that shape to the verified recording gives:

Nirvana, performers. Nevermind. "Smells Like Teen Spirit." DGC Records, 1991. Compact disc.

Harvard (Cite Them Right)

The University of Sheffield's Harvard guide, which states that it follows Cite Them Right, has separate entries for a physical album, a physical album track, and digital formats. For a track:

Name of Artist (Year) 'Title of song', Title of Album (Year if different to the original song recording) [Format]. Edition (if needed). Place of Publication: Record Label.

Nirvana (1991) 'Smells like teen spirit', Nevermind [CD]. [Place of publication]: DGC Records.

In-text: "The song 'Smells like teen spirit' (Nirvana, 1991)…"

The place is left as a bracketed slot deliberately: Sheffield's template asks for a place of publication, and release databases do not reliably record one. Take it from the sleeve or label copy of the release in your hands rather than guessing.

For a stream or download, the same guide replaces the place and label with the availability statement and a download date: Name of Artist (Year) 'Title of song', Title of Album. Available at: URL (Downloaded: date).

The University of York's Harvard guide shows a slightly different arrangement — Belle and Sebastian (2003). Wrapped up in books. On: Dear catastrophe waitress [CD]. London: Rough Trade Music. — which is a reminder that Harvard is a family of variants. Follow the guide your department names.

IEEE

The IEEE Reference Guide has no section for music recordings; engineering references rarely need one. If you must cite a recording in an IEEE-style list, the guide's general instruction is to give as much of the available metadata as the reader needs to find the work, and its online-video and website forms are the nearest published patterns.

Special Cases

A cover version. Name the performer you heard, and identify the original writer or performer in your text. The MLA Style Center has a separate post — also flagged by MLA as eighth-edition content — on crediting the lyricist-composer of a song performed by a cover band: it puts that person in the "Other contributors" element, as in Peter, Paul, and Mary. "Blowin' in the Wind." Music and lyrics composed by Bob Dylan, Warner Bros. Records, 1963.

A live recording. Give the recording year and the release year if they differ, and say it is a live recording.

A remaster or reissue. These are separate releases. Sheffield's digital-format example uses Animals with "2011 Remastered Version" as the edition. APA appends the original publication year in parentheses.

A single, not an album track. Drop the container and cite the single by its label and year.

A song you only read the lyrics of. That is a text, not a recording. Cite the printed songbook or the lyric site as a text source.

Common Mistakes

Citing the composition's year when you heard a recording made decades later
Naming the songwriter as the author when the style asks for the performer
Leaving out the format, so the reader cannot tell which release you mean
Citing "Spotify" as the publisher: the label is the publisher, the platform is the container or the availability statement
Citing a lyrics website as though it were the recording
Giving a timestamp from a different release: remasters shift by seconds

Sources for These Formats

American Psychological Association, APA Style common reference examples guide (7th ed. handout, last updated 3 March 2026), Song or Track section
University of Queensland Library, "APA 7th referencing style: Music"
MLA Style Center, "How do I cite a song?" (published 9 October 2017; MLA flags it as eighth-edition content) and "If I am analyzing the lyrics of a song performed by a cover band, how do I credit the lyricist-composer?" (published 31 January 2020; same flag)
Murdoch University Library, "Chicago 18th (notes-bibliography): A-V Materials", sound recordings
University of Sheffield Library, "Harvard referencing" (based on Cite Them Right), Music sections; University of York Library, "Harvard", Music entry
IEEE Reference Guide, checked for a music section and found not to have one
MusicBrainz release records for Nirvana, Nevermind (DGC Records, US, 24 September 1991)

Full style rules: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard.

Wonders formats the sources you save in any of six styles — APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver — which is useful for the musicology literature about a recording. The recording itself is cited from the release, using the formats above.