Using Siri with Shazam to Identify Unknown Music Tracks on YouTube

Ever hear a new song on a YouTube video and want to know the name of the artist and the track? If you have an iPhone with iOS 8, you can take advantage of Siri’s Shazam integration to quickly and easily identify any and all unfamiliar songs playing in your vicinity.

Starting in iOS 8, Siri uses Shazam and its extensive music database for music identification. Though Siri uses Shazam, the Shazam app does not need to be installed on your iOS device as this integration is built into the Siri service itself. If you need to identify a lot of music, you may want to install the Shazam app for its additional features, but it is not necessary for the basic identification feature offered by Siri

Identify a song using Siri

When you hear a song that you want to identify, all you need to do is launch Siri and ask the assistant to name that song.

1. Play the song you want to identify or make sure it is playing in the background.
2. Activate Siri by pressing and holding the Home button.
3. Ask Siri to identify the song by saying “What song is playing?”, “Identify this tune”, “What is that music?” or a similar phrase.
4. Siri will confirm your request by responding “Let me listen…”, “Naming that tune”, etc.
5. Within a minute, Siri will present the song title, artist name and album information. The results also allow you to purchase the song via iTunes or send the song information to the Shazam app if it is installed.
6. Tap the home button to exit Siri when you are done.

Viewing your Siri music history

Besides identifying songs, Siri also stores all your identified songs in a viewable history that is stored in the iTunes app on your iPhone or iPad. Follow the steps below to view your Siri music history.

1. Open the iTunes app.
2. Tap the menu icon in the upper right hand corner.
3. Tap the tab for “Siri” to view a list of all the songs that Siri has recognized.

From this list, you can tap on a song to listen to a preview or view additional details about the album or artist. You also can purchase the track by tapping the price and then selecting “Buy Song.”