TikTok Introduces 'Sound Search' to Compete with YouTube Music and Shazam by Identifying Songs Through Singing or Humming

TikTok Introduces 'Sound Search' to Compete with YouTube Music and Shazam by Identifying Songs Through Singing or Humming

TikTok is rolling out a new feature called “Sound Search,” which allows users to identify songs by singing, humming, or playing them. This feature, currently available to some users in select regions, aims to enhance the app's search capabilities and compete with YouTube Music and Shazam.

Sound Search offers a unique way to find content on TikTok, particularly useful on a platform where song-based trends change rapidly. Unlike Shazam, which only identifies songs when the actual track is played, TikTok’s tool, similar to YouTube Music’s song detection feature, can recognize tunes sung or hummed by users.

During testing, the tool showed its effectiveness by quickly identifying popular songs like Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and viral TikTok sounds such as “oh no oh no oh no no no.” However, it struggled with less popular songs, often returning generic search results instead of specific videos.

Although TikTok designed Sound Search to find songs rather than TikTok-specific sounds, it successfully detected popular memes and sounds from the app, such as “Oh my gosh, she’s bald” from “Totally Spies” and the “Nobody’s gonna know” sound.

Users with access to this feature can find it by going to the search bar in the app, clicking the microphone icon, and selecting “Sound Search.” This addition enhances TikTok’s functionality as a search engine, potentially drawing users away from YouTube Music, Shazam, and even Google for music discovery.

TikTok’s emphasis on sound-driven trends and its influence on chart-topping songs makes this feature a strategic move to boost song discovery on its platform. The company has not yet disclosed when Sound Search will be available to all users.