Use the following template or our APA Citation Generator to cite a music or recording. For help with other source types, like books, PDFs, or websites, check out our other guides. To have your reference list or bibliography automatically made for you, try our free citation generator.
Place this part in your bibliography or reference list at the end of your assignment.
Author Surname, Author Initial. (Year Published). Title. City: Publisher. Retrieved from http://Website URL
Smith, H. (1952). Anthology of American Folk Music. New York: Folkways Records.
Place this part right after the quote or reference to the source in your assignment.
(Author Surname, Year Published)
If Harry Smith is known for anything, it is for the six-album compilation released by Folkways Records (run by Moses Asch) in 1952, comprising of eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1927 to 1932. Smith compiled the anthology from his personal collection of 78 rpm records; the release became the spring source for American folk music revival of the 50s and 60s. Record collecting was an "obsessive, investigative hobby" for Smith, but the curation of these records can be understood in an ethnographic context, as Smith sought out the earliest records of an "odd, weird America." The Anthology is a prime example of Smith's "passive" work which became a major artistic force. (Smith, 1952)
According to the APA manual, songs are classified as audiovisual media, and credit should be accorded to the artist and the company. In an in-text citation, the artist(s) name is given along with the year of publication.
Example song: Halo by Beyoncé
Narrative: Beyoncé (2008)
Parenthetical: (Beyoncé, 2008)
According to the APA manual, songs are classified as audiovisual media and cited as thus. Credit is given to the performing artist(s) as well as the recording group or company.
Format
Songwriter last name (Copyright year). Song title [Song]. On Album title. Record label name.
Example
Beyoncé. (2008). Halo [Song]. On I am… Sasha Fierce. Columbia Records.