YouTube Music fully rolls out new ‘hum to search’ feature – and starts testing new AI-powered radio
Back in March, we reported that YouTube Music was testing a sound search feature that would let you find music by humming, singing, or playing it. It was rolled out to some users in May before Google rolled it back – well, now it’s finally rolling out to everyone on iOS and Android.
Of course, the accuracy of the feature depends on how well you can sing or hum the song. The “sound search” is smart, but not so smart that it will recognize a version that isn’t even in the same zip code as the original.
But when sound recognition finds a match, it does so very quickly and shows you important information such as the song name and artist, year, and download status.
How to Search for Sound – and What’s Next
To activate the sound search function, simply tap on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the YouTube Music app. This will show a sound wave icon, and tapping on it will bring up the full-screen search page. Now all that’s left to do is belt out the banger and hope that YouTube Music figures out what it is.
That’s not the only new feature coming to YouTube Music. According to 9to5googlethe service is now officially testing its AI-generated radio feature for US premium subscribers.
The rollout was first spotted earlier this month for a select group, but it now appears to be rolling out more broadly to paying subscribers. The feature works by taking text or voice prompts and then creating a customized, personalized selection of music.
As we noted at the time, the new feature could be a useful tool in the battle for the best music streaming services: since all services largely offer the same things and charge pretty much the same for their premium products, music streamers are increasingly differentiating themselves based on features.
When you throw in a feature like Google’s AI radio stations, YouTube’s music offerings become a lot more appealing. Plus, our recent YouTube Music review concluded that the service is best suited to “listeners looking to break away from mainstream music and embrace obscure artists.”