- Spotify is rumored to launch its own song identification tool
- Changes to the Android app spotted, with references to ‘Identify a song’, ‘listen’ and ‘analyze’
- This could add a level of convenience when adding tagged songs to a playlist, much like Apple Music’s Shazam shortcut.
One thing Spotify has over Apple Music is music discovery features, although the latter service has the edge when it comes to music recognition – but that could all change soon.
In a recent investigation by Android Authority, the outlet found lines of code in the latest version of the Spotify app that suggest the platform is working on its own song identification feature. Although this was only found in Spotify’s Android app, we don’t rule out the possibility of it launching on iOS.
As is the case with every rumor, we’re taking this with a pinch of salt until more information surfaces, but Android Authority’s findings present some pretty compelling evidence, showing text that says “Identify a song,” “listen,” and “analyze.” It appears the feature will need to access your device’s microphone and will show pop-ups when a song cannot be identified.
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Essentially, it appears that Spotify is developing its own in-house version of Shazam, which could serve as a band-aid for many music fans who, like me, rely on third-party music recognition software to give titles to songs.
When Apple purchased Shazam in 2018, the music recognition platform was integrated directly into the iOS experience. Instead of needing to use the standalone Shazam app, you can add the “Recognize Music” tab to your iOS Control Center for easier access, and Shazam will be right at your fingertips.
It also works wonders for quickly adding songs to your Apple Music library. When you shazam a song, a pop-up saying “Add to Apple Music?” appears and all your songs will be sent to your library. Until now, this level of convenience has not been available to Spotify users.
Since Apple took ownership of Shazam, Apple Music and its users have benefited greatly, but listeners who use Spotify, Tidal, and other top music streaming services have been left behind. But all was not lost; Last year, Shazam rolled out a feature where every song you identified using the app would automatically be added to a special playlist in your Spotify account called “My Shazam Tracks.”
I have to say, this small but effective feature has become one of my most used tools for keeping tabs on new music, but if you Shazam a lot of songs from different genres, it makes for a very messy playlist.
Even after my Shazamed songs are added to “My Shazam Tracks”, I still go back into the playlist to move the songs individually into my other playlists. This is why a native Spotify song identification tool would be very useful and would be even better if you could add it to your iOS Control Center.
Think about it: you’re out and about and a song starts playing that you know you’ve heard before, but you don’t remember the name or who is singing it. A simple swipe to the Control Center and press of a button gives you the song title in seconds, then takes you to your Spotify library where you can add your newly discovered song to a specific playlist.
We contacted Spotify for comment, who responded as follows:
“We are always exploring ways to improve our product and provide more value to users, but we do not comment on speculation about possible new features and have nothing new to share at this time.”
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