Cost to Develop an App Like SoundHound

In today’s music-obsessed world, music recognition apps like SoundHound have become crucial tools for discovering new music.

Ever heard a catchy tune but can’t find who’s behind the voice? SoundHound can solve your dilemma! All you have to do is sing, hum, or play a small clip of the song and it will instantly identify it.

This revolutionary feature has not only captivated users but also businesses to develop a discovery app like SoundHound & replicate its success.

And, the first question they Google is “How much does it Cost to Create an App like SoundHound?”

The SoundHound-like app development cost can be somewhere from $20,000 to $40,000+.

While the exact cost can vary depending on features and complexity, this blog delves into more core factors that affect the cost to develop a SoundHound-like app.

Let’s explore it all.

Music Streaming Market Stats

Market Stats are really important. Whether you want to create a music recognition app like SoundHound or just a user of these apps, these stats will paint a picture of the market.

The global music streaming market is booming. Valued at $41.52 billion in 2023, it’s projected to skyrocket to $104.09 billion by 2032, growing at a robust annual rate of 10.75%.

North America is expected to dominate the music streaming market for the next eight years.

With a commanding 71% share of global revenue in 2023, this region benefits from a strong presence of major industry players, advanced wireless infrastructure, and widespread adoption of smart devices.

So, yes it is not wrong to say that the market has so much potential, and capitalizing on this upward market will be a wise decision.

What is SoundHound?

SoundHound is a popular music identification app that uses advanced technology to recognize songs based on a short audio clip.

It has a great approach through which users can hum, sing, or play a snippet of a song, and the app identifies the song instantly. Beyond music recognition, SoundHound offers features like lyrics display, music recommendations, and integration with streaming services.

It’s known for its accuracy and speed in identifying songs, making it a go-to app for many music lovers.

Top Features of Your SoundHound App

Music App Features play an important role to make your app successful.

To make sure that you get a competitive edge, here are some must-have features to incorporate:

1. User Registration

With such a high number of competitions in the market, users are bombarded with choices, and a smooth registration process is the first hurdle you need to clear to win them over.

If it’s clunky and inconvenient, they’re likely to move on to the next app in the line. So, offering them to register through multiple channels such as Gmail, Phone Number, and Facebook login, demonstrates your commitment to user convenience right from the start.

This sets the tone for a positive user experience and increases the chances they’ll stick around to explore what your app has to offer.

2. Accurate Music Recognition

This is the foundation!

Utilize robust audio fingerprinting technology for swift and accurate song identification, even in noisy environments.

This will enhance their experience with the app and will increase their effectiveness.

3. Real-Time Song Information

To create an app like SoundHound, you should display song titles, artists, albums, and relevant details.

This way, users will get to know about the songs and be exposed to new music they might enjoy.

Plus, this removes the frustration of trying to identify a song manually fostering a sense of discovery and allowing users to quickly build their favorite playlists or explore similar music.

4. Huge Music Library

Yet another important feature to incorporate while developing an app like SoundHound is an extensive music database.

You should offer users to choose from a huge ocean of music, be it chart-topping hits to obscure gems; everything should be at their fingertips.

A huge and diverse library can be a powerful tool to make sure that user find what they’re looking for, or stumble upon new music that becomes their favorites.

5. Multiple Recognition Methods

Don’t limit how users identify songs in your music app!

Cater to diverse preferences by offering multiple recognition methods.

Such as the humming feature caters to users who might not remember lyrics but can hum the melody, then comes someone who can sing a snippet of the song directly into the app.

Other than that, users can sign a snippet of the song directly into the app. And, your music app should be able to identify them all.

This can be especially helpful for identifying the songs in a foreign language or with unclear lyrics.

6. Lyrics Display

As we said, you can enhance engagement by displaying synchronized lyrics for identified songs, allowing users to sing along.

This will also foster a more interactive and engaging music experience, perfect for parties or simply enjoying music on a deeper level. Such features are really common in Deezer-like app development.

7. Push Notification

Push Notification services can be a game-changer tool, but use them wisely!

Through this feature, you can alert users about new albums or singles from their favorite artists. This keeps them in the loop and drives them back to the app to explore the fresh content.

Based on listening habits, you can send notifications about any new music, artists, or genres they might enjoy. This personal touch keeps users engaged with fresh music tailored to their music.

8. Sharing Options

One form of enjoying music is to share with friends.

You can allow users to easily share what they’re listening to on platforms like Facebook or Instagram. This also exposes your app to a wider audience and fosters a sense of community.

Also, taking things further, you can enable users to create collaborative playlists, fostering a shared music experience and encouraging social interaction within the app.

9. Recommendation Engine

A good recommendation engine is everything to make a music identification app like SoundHound successful in the market. Even, it is also taken into account in Audiomack like clone app development.

You can offer pre-curated playlists based on mood, activity, or even time of day. This provides users with ready-made options to suit their listening needs.

Use the recommendation engine to help them go beyond just generic music and introduce them to new genres and artist they might have not discovered on their own.

10. Music Categorization

Music categorization is said to be an essential feature for any music app, it’s really need of the hour.

As it helps users navigate the huge library and discover music they’ll enjoy. A proper categorization can be of help to make it easy for users to find what they actually came to look for.

Also, this provides flexibility to browse by genre, mood, activity, or even specific characteristics like vocal-heavy tracks.

Advanced Features

The market is filled with so many music apps, and one element of their success is unique features. To make a successful app like Shazam or SoundHound, you need some advanced features for your app.

♦ AI-Powered Music Recommendation

To take your music discovery app to the next level!

Utilize AI to analyze user listening habits and recommend similar artists, genres, or playlists based on identified songs.

AI development has seen an increase in the past few years in different industries, music is no exception. These AI algorithms analyze user listening habits, including genres, artists, playlists, and even time of day.

This data is used to recommend music that feels strangely in tune with their preferences.

♦ Social Media Integration

The growing demand for social media app development shows the importance of social media integration in your SoundHound-like app.

Encourage user engagement by allowing them to share song discoveries with friends on different social media platforms through your app.

This will also give your app unpaid exposure to a huge audience.

♦ AR Integration

How about taking steps further with AR integration?

Meaning, Integrating AR elements that display information about artists or similar concerts happening around the user’s location based on identified songs.

This translates to a more fun and engaging experience, ultimately driving app engagement and retention.

♦ Offline Functionality

A user doesn’t have to be tied to WI-FI or data plans to enjoy their music.

Offline functionality allows them to listen to their favorite songs, podcasts, or playlists on the go, whether commuting, traveling, or hitting the gym without worrying about connectivity.

With this, user can download their desired content beforehand, saving them money & preventing them from exceeding data limitations.

♦ Voice Search and Commands

Voice search and commands a top-notch features that can be of help for your users to go hand-free offering a seamless experience.

You can revolutionize the way users interact with music by going beyond traditional search methods! Allow users to hum, sing, or even whistle a snippet of a song for instant identification. This caters to situations where users might not even remember lyrics or song titles.

SoundHound-Like App Development: Step-By-Step Process

Considering Developing an App Like SoundHound? The first question that likely pops up is:

“How to create a music discovery app Like SoundHound?”

The app development process to build an app like SoundHound consists of several step-by-step processes.

Step 1: Market Research

Market Research is the first step to build an app like SoundHound.

It allows you to identify a problem your app can solve and the need it can fulfill. You can get to know about music streaming app development challenges and pain points of the user that you can solve.

This way, you can create an app like SoundHound that resonates with their needs and has a clear roadmap for development.

Step 2: Design Your App

Focus on UI/UX Design; collaborate with designers to create wireframes and prototypes, you can gather feedback to iterate and refine the design before going into extensive development.

The benefit of developing a prototype is it mimics the app’s functionality, allowing users to interact with it and provide further feedback that’s necessary.

Step 3: Development of Your App

This is where the magic happens!

Developers translate the UI mockups and functionalities into a functional app. They work on a chosen tech stack depending on the target platform.

This phase includes the development of writing clean, efficient code, integrating APIs for additional features, and making sure that the app functions as intended across different devices.

Step 4: Quality Assurance and Testing

Rigorous testing is necessary to build an app like SoundHound for a successful app launch.

QA testers meticulously examine the app for bugs, crashes, or compatibility issues across various devices and operating systems.

This app testing helps to assess the app’s performance, user experience, and adherence to security protocols. To be the best in the market, you have to resolve issues that can hinder user experience.

Step 5: Launching Your App

Once you are done with testing, time to prepare for submission of the app to the app store. You can submit your app to the App Store or publish your app to the Play Store.

It will take some time to hear back from them, till then you can plan marketing efforts that can create your buzz in the market and ensure a successful launch day.

Step 6: Maintenance & Updates

Your app’s journey doesn’t end at launch.

It’s time to monitor user complaints and identify areas where you can improve. You can continuously update the app with new features, fix bugs, and security patches to maintain user engagement and address any emerging issues.

Remember, maintenance & support are needed of the hour as they ensure that your app is relevant, functional and provides a consistently positive user experience.

Cost to Develop an App Like SoundHound

One of the important factors to consider while development is cost. So, if you are wondering “How much it does cost to develop a discovery app like SoundHound?”

As discussed, the SoundHound clone app development cost can be somewhere between $20,000 to $40,000. However, this price can increase or decrease as per the project’s needs.

Let’s see a quick breakdown of the cost to develop a music app to get an idea:

Factors That Affect the Cost to Develop an App Like SoundHound

As we already said, there are several factors that affect the cost to build an app like SoundHound. Here’s a breakdown of the key elements to consider:

1] Features

Features are the backbone of the music streaming apps.

The complexity and accuracy of the audio fingerprinting technology directly impact the cost to develop an app like SoundHound.

Advanced algorithms for handling noisy environments for identifying obscure music might require a higher investment.

2] Development Team Location

Development team location also adds to the experience and skill set of your development team significantly the cost.

Highly qualified developers with expertise in audio recognition and mobile app development will command higher rates compared to less experienced teams.

Similarly, the geographic location of the development team also plays a role, Development cost tends to be higher in North America and Western Europe compared to Asian countries.

Here is a quick breakdown of the hourly rates that will give you an idea of how it affects the overall cost.

3] App Design

A user-friendly and intuitive interface is essential for a successful app.

However, if you go for a simple design with a minimalistic approach then the design cost might not be that much.

But, if you go for complex animations, interactive elements, or multiple design variations will require more development time & resources, increasing the cost to develop an app like SoundHound.

4] Backend Integration & Testing

Backend Integration and testing significantly impact the cost to build an app like SoundHound. Seamlessly connecting app frontend to backend systems requires careful planning, development, and testing.

Complex integrations with multiple systems can increase development time & cost.

Thorough testing to ensure data accuracy, security, and performance is crucial but adds to the project timeline.

Moreover, unexpected issues during integration might necessitate additional development cycles, further driving up costs. Proper planning, clear documentation, and experienced developers can mitigate these challenges and control costs.

5] App Maintenance

App Maintenance is an ongoing expense that needs prior attention.

While the initial phase is substantial, there is a long-term cost of maintenance that can often be underestimated. However, the overall cost is 15% to 20% of your initial development budget.

But, if you do not pay attention, then this might exceed your expectations.

How to Monetize Your SoundHound-Like App?

One of the major reasons businesses invest in app development is to earn good revenue and be a part of the growing trend.

This is why we are sharing some app monetization models for your app:

► Freemium Model

One of the famous app monetization strategies that is gaining traction is the freemium model, a combination of Free and Premium.

In this model, you can offer basic features for free, but ask for a fee for advanced features such as ad-free experience. This way, you can generate additional income through your app.

► In-App Advertising

Advertising has changed in many forms from newspaper to digital.

Current ads are displayed within a mobile app to generate revenue for app owners. It offers targeted ad placement, reaching every kind of user.

But, you should make sure not to offer excessive or irrelevant ads that can negatively user experience.

► Subscription Models

Subscription-based apps are proof that consumers value access to digital content.

A subscription-based model involves customers paying a recurring fee for ongoing access to products or services. Unlike one-time purchases, subscriptions provide consistent revenue and foster long-term customer relationships.

► Partnerships & Affiliations

You should collaborate with other music streaming services, artists, or brands for promotional partnerships or affiliate commissions.

This way, you can provide them with something extra resulting in increased loyalty and app engagement.

These partnerships can lead to enhanced user experience and additional revenue streams through shared advertising or commission-based arrangements.

How Nimble AppGenie Can Help To Build A SoundHound Like App?

Seeing the growing number of music streaming apps, it is evident that to make a name in this competition, you need to take the help of a top Music App Development Company.

Our developers, designers, and experts are highly talented and have experience in launching music apps that took the market by storm. They possess the technical knowledge and skills to leverage their expertise to build a music recognition app like SoundHound efficiently.

So, if you have an idea, then connect with us.

Conclusion

Developing a music recognition app like SoundHound requires a blend of advanced technology, user-centric design, and effective monetization strategies.

By understanding the market trends, incorporating essential features, and leveraging the expertise of a development partner like Nimble AppGenie, you can create a successful app.

Remember, the key to standing out is a combination of accurate music identification, a seamless user experience, and continuous innovation. With careful planning, development, and maintenance, you can tap into the booming music streaming market and build a loyal user base.

FAQs

Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.