We do not consider a work that consists solely of a list of song titles and artists to be a transformative fanwork in and of itself. A work such as this would need to include additional fanwork content. For example, a user could post their playlist in the author's notes of their actual fanwork.
However, if the primary purpose of the work is intended to be the playlist itself, then we recommend including banner artwork, a freely-accessible way to listen to the songs, and/or some level of analysis or reasoning as to why each song was chosen. We consider such analysis to be a form of meta commentary, which is a type of fannish nonfiction, and thus a transformative fanwork.
The links to the included songs have to lead to a service which is free to access, such as Spotify or YouTube. Because users aren't required to pay to access the linked content on those sites, and the majority of content on these sites isn't restricted behind a paywall, we don't consider these platforms to be commercial. This is true even if they offer optional monetization features. As such, you are allowed to link or embed content from those sites so long as you do not promote the paid aspects of those sites.
Comment on TOS Spotlight: Commercial Promotion
AO3_Policy_and_Abuse (Official) Mon 30 Jun 2025 06:48PM UTC
Comment Actions