APA 7th Citation Guide

General Guidelines

• Author element

  • If a music artist prefers to use their first name and surname, then follow the APA guideline to invert the author’s name as “Surname, First Initial” in your reference (e.g., “Swift, T.” for singer and songwriter "Taylor Swift").
  • If the music artist goes by only one name (e.g., P!nk), a group name (e.g., "twenty one pilots”), an inseparable multipart name (e.g., “Lady Gaga”), an initialism (e.g., “MGMT”), or some other name variation, write their name as shown on the work.

• Date element

  • Put the year of publication, i.e. (YYYY).

• Title element

  • Album or song: Write the title of the album, song, or score title in italics and in sentence case, like as one writes a sentence. 

• Source element

  • Provide the publisher, who would be the production company or label:
    • In regular font and in title case, e.g. Brilliant Classics.
    • If there are multiple music labels, separate them with a semicolon. 
  • URLs: Include a URL only if that is the only place to listen to the track/album, for example, SoundCloud or the artist's website.

For specific guidelines for referencing scores in different types of print books, e.g. those that are edited, later editions, translated, etc., consult our eBooks page for guidelines and examples, and don't include any URL or DOI.

Use the following chart to help you build citations even if the APA manual does not explicitly address your type of music material.

For music materials that stand-alone, include the following:

For music materials that are part of a greater whole, e.g., an album, include the following:

Format

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work in sentence case [Format]. Publisher.

Examples

Easton, F. (Translator). (1951). Fifty selected songs: For high voice [Score]. G. Schirmer.

Specific Guidelines

• Include a URL only if that is the only place to listen to the track/album, for example, SoundCloud or the artist's website.
• It is not necessary to include the format of the album or song (CD, mp3, Spotify, etc) unless that version is the only one to include a special feature important to your use of the citation. Include the format inside square brackets after the type, separated by a semicolon.

Format

Artist, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work in sentence case [Type of recording]. Label. https://xxxxxx - only include if that is the only place to listen to the album.

Examples

Brown, J. (1995). The great James Brown: Live at the Apollo 1995 [Album; CD]. Scotti Bros. Records.

Eilish, B. (2019). When we fall asleep, where do we go? [Album]. Darkroom; Interscope.

Specific Guidelines

• If a song has no associated album, omit that part of the citation.
• Include a URL only if that is the only place to listen to the track/alum, for example, SoundCloud or the artist's website.
• It is not necessary to include the format of the album or song (CD, mp3, Spotify, etc) unless that version is the only one to include a special feature important to your use of the citation. The format should be included inside the square brackets after the type, separated by a semicolon.

Format

Artist, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of track [Type of recording]. On Title of work in sentence case. Label. https://xxxxxx - only include if that is the only place to listen to the song.

Artist. (Year of publication). Title of track [Type of recording]. On Title of work in sentence case. Label. https://xxxxxx - only include if that is the only place to listen to the song.

Examples

Not associated with an album

Childish Gambino. (2018). This is America [Song]. mcDJ; RCA.

Drake. (2018). God’s plan [Song]. Young Money; Cash Money.

Associated with an album

Beyoncé. (2016). Formation [Song]. On Lemonade. Parkwood; Columbia.

Swift, T. (2019). Lover [Song]. On Lover. Republic.

Augusta University provides free access to EndNote citation management tool students, faculty, and staff.

If you use EndNote to input your references, then choose the reference type underneath. If you export or import your citations, then check that EndNote automatically categorized them to the below reference type. Edit the reference type if it is incorrect.  

Reference Type:  Music

For more details and examples on how to reference music, consult the following section in the APA 7th Publication Manual:

Section 10.13 Audio Works 91 - 92.