For instance:

Can someone explain to me why some are listed as:

(feat. Drake)

or

& Playboi Carti

Does this difference actually indicate anything or is it merely a cosmetic thing?

Any info is appreciated

wouldn't surprise me if they wrote that they had to have their name on the song title in the contract if they wanted their feature.

Probably has to do with publishing and royalties.

Like if it says featuring it’s the other persons song and your just a feature.

If it says and, it’s both of y’all’s song

This is what I thought as well

Like how on streaming, Miss The Rage is credited as a Carti song, even though it's just a feature

I wonder what the internal process is within the labels that decides whether you are labelled as just a (feat.) or a & *

I think & denotes that it should be considered a 'duet' with both artists having the same amount of importance to the song and not just one artist coming in and dropping a verse.

Even though that's pretty much never the case anymore lol

Yeah sensible way of interpreting it

But as you've just highlighted, that is legit never the case lmao and is thereby a bit unrepresentative, which is what confused me