You might not hem and haw the next time you’re choosing a soundtrack for a Snapchat video. Snap has introduced automatic Sounds features that help you produce clips faster. Sounds Recommendations, for instance, suggests music relevant to the augmented reality Lens you’re using. Try a bread Lens and you’ll see plenty of toast-related songs alongside the most popular overall tracks.
Sounds Sync, meanwhile, creates montage videos in sync to the beat of tunes in the Sounds collection. You’ll need between four and 20 photos or videos, but this could help you summarize a vacation or social outing without stressing about suitably-timed songs.
Both features are available now for iOS users in the US, and are rolling out worldwide. Android users can also use Sounds Recommendations right away, but they’ll have to wait until March to try Sounds Sync.
Snap isn’t shy about its goals. The easier it is to create videos, the more likely you are to post on Snapchat. This is also as much about helping artists as it is users — Snap music strategy lead Manny Adler claims this is a “unique opportunity” for musicians to reach listeners who’ll (hopefully) play full songs after hearing them in someone’s video.
The introductions come at a good time for Snap. The company’s audience is growing after a turbulent 2022, having reached 750 million monthly active Snapchat users despite laying off roughly 1,300 workers last summer. While it’s still much smaller than rivals like Instagram, which had two billion monthly active users as of last fall, it’s enduring competition that is frequently mimicking features. Small additions like Sounds Recommendations and Sync may help Snap maintain that growth.