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Vine
Vine is hoping to boost its social media music cred with new features to make it easier to add music to videos and finding song tracks on videos shared by others.
The social media platform has announced two new features for users, including a Snap to Beat function to make it easier to create perfectly looping soundtracks to videos, and a Featured Tracks add-on that allows users to find the name and artist details for videos shared on the platform.
Launched in 2013 and owned by Twitter, Vine is a free app-based service that offers the video equivalent of a tweet — brevity matched with shareability. Users create short, six-second videos (complete with sound) that loop indefinitely and slowly rack up a count of the number of times they’ve repeated themselves.
While the service began as an exercise in abbreviation, the six-second format has gained credibility as the service sought to move beyond just being a platform for cute dogs. The service has proven its chops as a news-gathering tool, playing a key role in the sharing of video during the Ferguson protests in 2014, and even joining forces with the world’s largest short film festival, Tropfest, for a dedicated six-second film competition.
Now, Vine is expanding its focus on sound, not just video.
iOS users will be able to use Snap to Beat to identify how much of a particular song should be used to create a seamlessly-looping audio track, with the feature trimming the video to fit. There will also be edit tools to select particular parts of songs and sound clips to drop into specific parts of the Vine.
Vine is also positioning itself as a legitimate music sharing and discovery service, by foregrounding music tracks shared in the videos on its platform. A Featured Tracks section will highlight popular or new songs to add to videos, while users will also be identify music tracks used in other Vines by tapping on the looping video.
To add weight to its music goals, Vine has partnered with Billboard to get its video creators recognised in the Billboard Social 50, a chart that tracks followers, views and song plays to rank “the most active artists on the world’s leading social networking sites.”
The new music editing tools will roll out for iOS devices from August 28, while both Android and iOS users will be able to use the music discovery features from this date.
