With a new feature called Sound Search, TikTok looks to take on YouTube Music and Shazam by letting you find sounds by singing, humming, or playing them. The feature is only available in select regions and is not yet widely available. Sound Search lets you find songs another way on the app. Since music trends on TikTok change fast, it can help you understand popular sounds.
Sound Search works like the song finder on YouTube Music – you can identify tunes by humming or singing, not just playing the song. While Shazam only works when you play music, these tools let you find songs in other ways. TikTok’s feature also shows you videos using that sound, not just the song name.
When testing popular songs, Sound Search recognized them quickly. However, less common tracks were harder to find or just showed generic “fly” video results. Sounds unique to TikTok like memes were also found. To use this feature, go to the search bar, tap the microphone, and then select “Sound Search.”
Many people use TikTok as a search engine. This makes finding sounds even easier. The next time a song is stuck in your head, TikTok wants you to use Sound Search instead of YouTube Music or Shazam to discover it.
Finding songs is important on TikTok since they drive trends and can make artists famous. Given the significance of sounds on TikTok, it’s not surprising that the company is rolling out a way to boost the discovery of songs on its platform while also cutting into Shazam and YouTube Music’s territory.
It’s unknown when TikTok plans to release the feature to all users.
