Shazam’s new feature highlights the most Shazam’d moments in songs
Shazam has introduced “Popular Segments”, a feature that shows the part of a song listeners interacted with the most.
Shazam has introduced a new feature that shines a light on the moments in a song that people are most curious about. Called “Popular Segments”, this update highlights which parts of a track triggered the highest number of Shazams within the past week. It is rolling out now on Shazam.com for desktop and mobile users, with no confirmed date yet for when it will reach the app.
Popular Segments shows a visual graph of a song, marking the sections that listeners Shazam’d the most. Apple says it is based on the moments that “drove the most Shazam activity within the past week.” According to the company, the new tool is, “Available for top tracks ranking on Shazam’s charts and based on Shazam tag volume, this interactive feature displays relative segment popularity throughout a song, allowing users to hover over the graph and reveal precise time markers and corresponding segments.”
This sounds like a helpful way to understand what stands out in a track. But it is important to read the detail carefully. Digital Music News points out that the feature isn’t measuring the part of the song people liked the most. It’s measuring the part they Shazam’d the most – and those are not always the same thing.
Dig even deeper, and you realise that the part of the song someone Shazam’d isn’t even necessarily the part that made their ears prick up. If you’re anything like me, the moment you Shazam a track isn’t exact at all. You hear something catchy, then you spend a few seconds fumbling for your phone and unlocking it, then searching through all the app clutter until you finally spot the Shazam icon. By the time you press it, the part of the song that grabbed your attention has already sailed by.
With that in mind, Popular Segments is useful, but it isn’t a perfect measurement of what truly made people reach for their phones. It’s simply a snapshot of when they managed to press the button.
As DMN points out, the idea feels somewhat similar to an older SoundCloud feature where users leave comments on specific timestamps within a track. Those comments then appear as the song plays, giving listeners a sense of which moments stood out to others. Shazam’s version isn’t the same, but it does offer a new way to see how people respond to different sections of a song.
Popular Segments gives Shazam a fresh angle by not only identifying songs but also showing how listeners interact with them. It could offer helpful insights into listener behaviour, song structure, or emerging music trends. It may also help artists understand which sections of a track catch attention, even if it’s not a perfect reflection of the true “favourite” moment.