- 05/30/2024
- Today in marketing , Technology
- Pablo Sanchez
The platform has introduced an innovative feature in its Android version that allows users to search for songs in a unique way
- YouTube Music for Android now allows users to find songs by humming, whistling, singing, or playing a recording.
- The launch seeks to attract and retain users in a competitive market, where YouTube Music and Premium surpassed 100 million subscribers in February.
- The functions are available for free and paid users on Android, with a search interface that allows you to identify songs from sounds registered by users.
The Android version of YouTube Music has enabled new features that allow users to hum, whistle, sing, or play a recording to search for a song. This tool seeks to emulate one of the most emblematic benefits of Shazam, a mobile application that allows you to identify songs in seconds.
The goal of the launch is to attract new users and retain existing ones in an increasingly competitive market. In early February, YouTube Music and Premium surpassed 100 million subscribers, including their trial versions. Despite this progress, the Music variant of Google’s video platform remains below competitors such as Spotify, Tencent Music, Apple Music and Amazon Music in terms of subscribers worldwide, according to estimates by market consultancy MIDiA Research. .
In the global panorama, the number of users of streaming services exceeded 713.4 million at the end of the third quarter of last year. In 2023, these platforms generated joint revenue of $19.5 billion, according to the statistics bank Statista.
The new YouTube features
In Mexico, there are more than 20 million subscribers to services such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music. Calculations by the market consultancy The CIU indicate that people use these entertainment apps on average 5.7 days a week. 71% access daily and 21% do so twice a week.
The new features of YouTube Music are available to paid and free users who have an Android device. Its availability for iOS devices has not yet been confirmed. Those interested must enter the platform and click on the magnifying glass to access the search page. Next to the voice search function, a new action button will be displayed in the upper right corner of the screen, identified with an equalizer waves icon.
When selected, the service will ask users to play, sing or hum the piece of music they want to hear. After a few minutes, it will deliver a song based on the recorded sounds.
The effectiveness of the system is variable; according to the tests carried out, the function was able to accurately identify the melody ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen, the renowned British rock band. However, the search for the regional melody of ‘Jarabe Tapatío’ resulted in ‘La Raspa’, a popular Mexican song that, although it falls within the same genre, was not the one requested. It is expected that these types of failures will be reduced with frequent use of the tool.
What is at stake is a million-dollar business. In a market where audio quality is crucial, platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music compete fiercely to offer the best experience to their users. Improving audio quality and offering innovative features like humming search are key steps to attracting and retaining subscribers.
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