TikTok Introduces Sound Search, a New Song Identification Feature
- Martina
- 06 August 2024, Tuesday
TikTok is adding a new feature called ‘Sound Search,’ which allows users to identify and search for songs by singing, humming, or playing them.
Shazam, YouTube Music’s identification feature, and now Sound Search
The competition among the leading tech companies and social media platforms is continuously intensifying. TikTok’s introduction of Sound Search can be considered a direct response to popular music identification apps like Shazam, and YouTube Music’s recently launched music search function. Additionally, both TikTok’s and YouTube Music’s features offer similar functionalities.
Currently, YouTube Music is ahead. While its feature is already available to the public — though only to its YouTube Music subscribers on iOS and Android — TikTok’s Sound Search is still in the testing phase. As of now, the feature is accessible only to a limited number of users in specific regions.
Recognizing songs and linking them to current trends
As explained by TechCrunch, Tiktok’s new tool could help users discover and better understand current and upcoming trends on the platform, especially now that song-based trends change rather rapidly.
To use the feature, users can simply tap a microphone icon in the TikTok search bar and select the corresponding option. Just like YouTube Music’s song search feature, Sound Search enables users to input a melody, either by singing, humming, or playing it, and then receive a list of suggested songs. However, that is not where it ends with Sound Search! TikTok goes further, by directly linking identified songs to relevant TikTok videos.
TechCrunch noted that the feature can effectively recognize well-known songs that are frequently used for creating content on TikTok. For instance, it seamlessly identified Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ or the viral ‘oh no oh no no no’ sound. As TikTok clarified, detecting viral sounds is not the primary aim of the feature. However, it has demonstrated the ability to recognize popular TikTok sounds and memes effectively.
On the other hand, Sound Search showed limitations with less popular songs, like Hilary Duff’s song ‘Fly’. While it did recognize the song, it reportedly failed to suggest any relevant videos.
It is yet unclear when TikTok will make Sound Search available to the broader public. Given the importance of sounds in driving TikTok trends, it is expected to be available soon. However, one must remember that YouTube needed about a year to test its song discovery tool before making it accessible to the public.
In the meantime, TikTok is testing several other features to expand its functionalities and content capabilities. These include 60-minute video uploads, which would allow users to make longer-form content, and ‘Sub Space,’ which is an exclusive chat room for paying fans.
