There’s a new music discovery app borrowing the endless vertical-scrolling format of TikTok. But instead of watching videos, users swipe through short clips of songs, hoping to stumble upon their next favorite artist.

Launched Monday by Harman, a Samsung subsidiary, Drops aims to make discovering new music feel social again.

Available on iOS and Android in the U.S., the app lets users scroll through 10-to-30-second snippets of songs, accompanied by lyrics, album artwork, artist photos, and captions. The idea is to give listeners just enough of a track to grab their attention, whether it’s a particularly good lyric, a catchy hook, or a beat that makes them want to hear more.

The company says Drops is meant to feel like a return to how people used to discover music in the first place. Before every platform’s algorithm recommendations, people often heard about new songs through friends, music blogs, or online communities. Drops is trying to recreate that experience.

“You send a friend a song and say, ‘You have to hear this.’ Then you end up texting, ‘Skip to 1:47, that’s the best part.’ The part that hits usually isn’t the first few seconds, and there wasn’t a good way to share just that moment,” Clare Hunter, general manager of Drops, told us.

Hunter explained that the idea for Drops began taking shape after Harman acquired music management software company Roon in 2023.

“I used to spend hours making mixtapes for my friends, picking the songs, the order, and decorating the cover.

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