TikTok is stepping up its game against YouTube Music and Shazam with an innovative feature called “Sound Search.” This new tool allows users to discover songs by singing, humming, or playing them. Although it is currently available only to a select group of users in specific regions, the company confirmed to TechCrunch that it aims to roll it out more broadly in the future.
Enhancing the TikTok Experience
Sound Search is designed to enhance the user experience on TikTok by providing an additional method to find what you’re looking for on the platform. Given the rapid evolution of song-based trends on TikTok, this tool can help users stay updated with the latest trends and understand them better.
Comparison with Competitors
TikTok’s Sound Search is reminiscent of YouTube Music’s song detection tool, which allows users to identify songs by singing, humming, or playing them. While Shazam is well-known for its song recognition capabilities, it only works if the actual song is played. In contrast, TikTok and YouTube Music’s features go a step further by enabling song identification through singing or humming.
However, TikTok’s tool isn’t just about identifying songs. It also shows users videos that incorporate the identified songs, providing a more immersive experience.
Real-World Testing
In my testing, Sound Search demonstrated its effectiveness. Popular songs on the app were easily recognized. For instance, when I hummed Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” the tool quickly identified it and displayed popular videos featuring the song or its remixes. Similarly, singing the well-known “oh no oh no oh no no no” sound yielded immediate results.
Despite its impressive performance with popular songs, the tool showed some glitches with less common sounds. When I tested Hilary Duff’s “Fly,” the tool recognized the song but failed to show any related videos, instead presenting generic search results. The same issue occurred with One Direction’s “Magic.”
READ ALSO: OpenAI’s Former Chief Scientist Launches New Startup Focused on Superintelligence
Understanding TikTok Sounds
Interestingly, TikTok’s Sound Search also detected popular TikTok-specific sounds and memes. For example, it recognized the “Oh my gosh, she’s bald” sound from an episode of “Totally Spies” and the “Nobody’s gonna know” sound created by a TikTok user. This suggests that while the tool is designed primarily for song identification, it also has the potential to recognize popular TikTok sounds.
Accessing Sound Search
If you have access to this feature, you can find it by navigating to the search bar in the TikTok app, clicking on the microphone icon, and selecting “Sound Search.” This new tool significantly enhances TikTok’s search capabilities, making it even more user-friendly.
The Future of Sound Search
With this new feature, TikTok hopes users will turn to its app for song identification instead of relying on YouTube Music, Shazam, or even Google. Sounds play a crucial role on TikTok, driving trends and sometimes leading to chart-topping hits for artists. Therefore, it’s no surprise that TikTok is focusing on improving song discovery on its platform while also challenging its competitors.
Currently, it remains unclear when TikTok will release Sound Search to all users. However, given its potential to enhance user experience and its competitive edge, it’s a feature worth looking forward to.
REVIEW: Xiaomi 13T Pro 5G 1TB ROM 16GB RAM
Leave a Comment