First, the easy way: PERRLA
Paste the song's Spotify track link into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA reads the artist, any featured artists, the song title, the album, and the year from Spotify, and the finished entry goes on your Works Cited page with the song in quotation marks and the album in italics. Spotify doesn't share the record label, so add it under Label/Publisher Name. Then check two things. If the link is to a greatest-hits or playlist-style compilation, change the album to the one you actually heard. And look over the artist's name: a band name with periods or capitals, like R.E.M., can come back changed (R.e.m.).
Adding one by hand? Choose Music, then A song or track on an album. Under How was the piece performed?, pick Recorded by the original artist for most songs, including covers of pop, rock, country, and hip hop songs. The other choice mentions covers, but it's for crediting a performer separately, which a pop cover doesn't need. Put the singer in the Artist role or the band in the Group Artist role; a singer known by one name goes in the Last name box. Add anyone billed as featured in the Featured Artist or Featured Group role, and PERRLA writes Featuring and their names after the song title.
For classical music or another composer's piece played by someone else, pick Performed by someone else; not the original artist. Add the composer as the Artist, the soloist as a Performer or the orchestra as a Group Performer, and type the year the work first came out in Original Publication Year. PERRLA puts that year after the song title and writes performance by and the performer after the album.
Then fill in the Album or Work Title, Song Title, Copyright Year, and each label under Label/Publisher Name, using Add publisher for each one after the first. Leave URL or Platform blank: MLA doesn't need the app you streamed on. PERRLA handles the title case, the quotation marks, the italics, and the slashes between labels.
Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.
The parts of the works cited entry
1. Artist
Start with the singer or band you hear on the recording. A person goes in last name first, with the full first name, then a period. A band, a one-name artist, or a stage name goes in exactly as the artist writes it.
Cash, Johnny.
R.E.M.
MLA lets you start with whoever your paper is about. For classical music and other composed pieces, like Scott Joplin's piano rags, that's usually the composer (Joplin, Scott.), and the performer moves after the album. For a pop song, the singer or band stays in the author spot even when you're writing about the lyrics. Credit the songwriter after the song title instead (see the FAQ on covers).
2. Song title
Put the song title in quotation marks, in title case, with the period inside the closing quotation mark. A song is part of a larger work, the album, so it takes quotation marks, not italics.
"Everybody Hurts."
3. Featured artists
Artists billed as featured belong to the song, so they go right after the song title, after the word Featuring, in normal name order. Two are joined by and; three or more are the first one and et al.
Featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid.
The main artist stays in the author spot, and only the main artist goes in your in-text citation.
4. Original date (optional)
When a recording is much newer than the work itself, like a classical piece or a ragtime rag, you can give the year the work was first published right after the song title, followed by a period.
1902.
Pop covers usually skip it. Cite the version you heard and mention the original in your sentence if it matters.
5. Album
The album is the container, so its title goes in italics, in title case, followed by a comma.
American IV: The Man Comes Around,
A single that was never on an album skips this part. Go straight from the song title to the label.
6. Performer (composed pieces)
When the composer leads the entry, name the performer after the album with the label performance by, then a comma.
performance by Joshua Rifkin,
7. Label and year
The record label is the publisher. When the album lists more than one, separate them with a slash, with a space on each side. End with the year the version you heard came out, then a period.
American Recordings / Lost Highway, 2002.
Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music are not labels. Find the label on the album's back cover or liner notes, or in the copyright line (℗) at the bottom of the album's page in Spotify or Apple Music. If the format matters to your paper, you can add it at the very end: 2002. CD.
Examples
A song by a band
R.E.M.'s 1992 song about getting through despair, often discussed in writing on music and mental health. The band name goes in exactly as R.E.M. writes it, periods and all, and the album is the container.
Works Cited
R.E.M. "Everybody Hurts." Automatic for the People, Warner Bros. Records, 1992.
- In-text citation(R.E.M.)
- Narrative citationIn "Everybody Hurts," R.E.M. …
A song with featured artists
Logic's song named for the old National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, with Alessia Cara and Khalid. A 2021 BMJ study linked the song's biggest moments to a rise in calls to the Lifeline. The featured artists follow the song title, and the in-text citation names only Logic.
Works Cited
Logic. "1-800-273-8255." Featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid. Everybody, Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017.
- In-text citation(Logic)
- Narrative citationLogic's "1-800-273-8255" …
A cover of someone else's song, with a time stamp
Johnny Cash's 2002 recording of Hurt, a song Trent Reznor wrote for Nine Inch Nails. Cite the version you heard, so Cash is the artist. The time stamp in the citation points to a moment two minutes and five seconds in.
Works Cited
Cash, Johnny. "Hurt." American IV: The Man Comes Around, American Recordings / Lost Highway, 2002.
- In-text citation(Cash 00:02:05)
- Narrative citationIn his version of "Hurt," Cash … (00:02:05).
A composer's piece in a later recording
Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, first published in 1902, as recorded by pianist Joshua Rifkin on his 1970 album Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, the record that helped bring ragtime back. Joplin, the composer, leads the entry, the 1902 date follows the title, and Rifkin goes after the album with performance by.
Works Cited
Joplin, Scott. "The Entertainer." 1902. Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, performance by Joshua Rifkin, Nonesuch Records, 1970.
- In-text citation(Joplin)
- Narrative citationJoplin's "The Entertainer" …
In-text citations
An MLA 9 in-text citation for a song is the first thing in its Works Cited entry, usually the artist's name. Songs have no page numbers, so add a time stamp only when you quote a line or point to a moment.
- A person: the last name: (Cash)
- A band or one-name artist: the name as the artist writes it: (R.E.M.) or (Logic)
- Featured artists: leave them out. They appear in the Works Cited entry, not the citation: (Logic)
- Classical music and other composed pieces: whoever leads the entry, usually the composer: (Joplin)
- A moment in the song: add the time stamp where it starts, in hours, minutes, and seconds, with no comma before it: (Cash 00:02:05)
- Name in your sentence: put only the time stamp in parentheses at the end, or leave the parentheses off when there's no time stamp: In his version of "Hurt," Cash sings … (00:02:05).
Name the songwriter or the original artist in your sentence when it matters to your point, and cite the recording you heard: Trent Reznor's song for Nine Inch Nails became a meditation on aging and regret in this recording (Cash).
Common mistakes
- Cash, J. (2002). Hurt [Song]. On American IV: The man comes around. American Recordings; Lost Highway.Cash, Johnny. "Hurt." American IV: The Man Comes Around, American Recordings / Lost Highway, 2002.That's APA. MLA spells out the first name, puts the song in quotation marks and the album in italics, both in title case, and moves the year to the end.
- Cash, Johnny. "Hurt." Spotify, 2002.Cash, Johnny. "Hurt." American IV: The Man Comes Around, American Recordings / Lost Highway, 2002.The publisher of a song is its record label, not the app you streamed it on. MLA doesn't need the app at all.
- R.E.M. Everybody Hurts. "Automatic for the People," Warner Bros. Records, 1992.R.E.M. "Everybody Hurts." Automatic for the People, Warner Bros. Records, 1992.The song is the part, so it takes quotation marks. The album is the whole, so it takes italics.
- Reznor, Trent. "Hurt." Performance by Johnny Cash, ...Cash, Johnny. "Hurt." ...For a pop cover, start with the artist who recorded the version you heard. The MLA Style Center's cover example keeps the performer first even when the paper is about the lyrics, and credits the songwriter after the song title, as in Music and lyrics composed by Trent Reznor.
- (Cash, 00:02:05)(Cash 00:02:05)MLA puts no comma between the name and the time stamp, the same as with a page number.
- Everybody, Def Jam Recordings, Visionary Music Group, 2017.Everybody, Def Jam Recordings / Visionary Music Group, 2017.When a recording has two labels, MLA separates them with a slash, so readers don't mistake the second one for a new element.
Quick checklist
- The singer or band you heard, or the composer for classical music
- Song title in quotation marks and title case
- Featured artists after the song title, after Featuring
- Album title in italics, then a comma
- Each record label, separated by slashes, then the year
- No streaming app, and a time stamp only when you point to a moment
Questions students ask
Do song titles go in quotation marks or italics in MLA?
Quotation marks. MLA puts the titles of shorter works that are part of something larger, like songs, in quotation marks, and the larger work, the album, in italics. That goes for your sentences too: Cash's "Hurt" on American IV.
How do I cite a song I listened to on Spotify or YouTube?
For Spotify or Apple Music, cite the song itself: artist, title, album, label, and year. The MLA Style Center says the app you used doesn't need to be named. If you do want to name the service, the MLA Style Center adds it as a second container at the end, in italics, with the song's link: Spotify, followed by the URL. A music video you watched on YouTube is a different source, cited as a YouTube video.
Who is the author of a song in MLA?
Usually the performer: the singer or band you hear on the track. MLA lets you start with the person your paper focuses on instead, so for classical music, the composer usually leads and the performer follows the album with performance by.
How do I cite a cover song in MLA 9?
Start with the artist who recorded the version you heard. If your paper is about the lyrics, the MLA Style Center shows how to credit the songwriter after the song title, with a label like Music and lyrics composed by and the writer's name. Otherwise, mention the original artist in your sentence.
How do I cite song lyrics in MLA?
If you heard the lyrics on the recording, cite the song and add a time stamp for where the line starts: (Cash 00:02:05). If you read them on a lyrics website, cite that page instead, with a description in place of the title, like Lyrics to "Hurt," followed by the site's name in italics and the URL.
What if the song isn't on an album?
Leave the album out and go straight from the song title to the label and the year: Artist. "Title." Label, Year. Many singles and songs released only online work this way.
Related guides
Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, the Contributor element with labels like performance by, containers, publishers, and the optional original date and format), sections 6.3–6.30 (in-text citations), and appendix 2 (musical recordings), and the MLA Style Center's posts on citing a song, songs downloaded from iTunes, song lyrics, a lyricist-composer for a cover band, album formats, and lyrics heard in a musical (slashes between companies). Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page: artist, album, year, and labels from Discogs release records for Automatic for the People, Everybody, and American IV: The Man Comes Around (re-checked October 29, 2026, through the Discogs API) and, for Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, the Discogs record of the original Nonesuch LP (H-71248, 1970: Joshua Rifkin, piano; The Entertainer, dated 1902 on the back cover; copyright Nonesuch Records), checked October 30, 2026; the 1902 first publication of The Entertainer (John Stark & Son) against IMSLP; the BMJ study (Niederkrotenthaler et al., 2021) against PubMed.