diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c2c40aca..e8751704 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     "lodash": "^3.10.1",
     "nerf-dart": "^1.0.0",
     "nopt": "^3.0.3",
+    "normalize-package-data": "^2.3.4",
     "npmconf": "^2.1.2",
     "npmlog": "^2.0.0",
     "parse-github-repo-url": "^1.0.0",
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 82028f15..9f44e819 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -6,10 +6,11 @@ const _ = require('lodash')
 const log = require('npmlog')
 const nopt = require('nopt')
 const npmconf = require('npmconf')
+const normalizeData = require('normalize-package-data')
 
 log.heading = 'semantic-release'
 const env = process.env
-const pkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync('./package.json'))
+const pkg = normalizeData(readFileSync('./package.json'))
 const knownOptions = {
   branch: String,
   debug: Boolean,