GoKawiilEdgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR Spotify appears to be working on a new tool for song identification.
While it doesn’t work just yet, text strings in the app clearly allude to the functionality, including requests for microphone access.
So far we’re only seeing this evidence on Android, but it’s likely the Spotify iOS app will offer something similar.
For a whole, whole lot of people, Spotify is our go-to destination for any and all things audio. That means music streaming, absolutely, but also access to podcasts and audiobooks, to say nothing of playlist tools for really customizing the experience. And while Spotify offers some great discovery features for finding new artists, what do you do when you’re looking for something in specific — you just don’t know what it’s called? It turns out, Spotify’s working on a solution for that, too.
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Smartphone users already have plenty of options for identifying songs, like the just-overhauled Now Playing for Pixel phones. If you’ve ever thought it’s a little odd that a music app like Spotify didn’t have its own song-ID solution built in, apparently you think a lot like Spotify developers, because they’re working on just such a feature right now.
Looking through some of the changes present in version 9.1.70.1086 of Spotify for Android, we’ve spotted some evidence that sure seems to point towards work on song identification:
Code Copy Text <string name="identify_song_content_description">Identify a song</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_permission_denied">Microphone access is off. Turn it on in Settings to identify songs.</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_listening">Listening…</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_analyzing">Analysing…</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_cancel">Cancel</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_error_generic">Something went wrong. Please try again.</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_no_match">We couldn’t find a match</string> <string name="audio_recognition_flow_retry">Try again</string>
While we’re not yet able to get any of this actually working in the app, even just going off those text strings alone, it seems perfectly clear what Spotfy’s up to here. We see direct references to song identification, the need to access your device’s microphone to sample audio, and error handling routines for when the song’s name can’t be determined.
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