Snapchat adds real-time music sharing to Snap Map

Snapchat is rolling out a new feature called Now Playing that lets users share, in real time, the music they’re listening to via Snap Map, TechCrunch has learned exclusively. The feature links a user’s streaming account — starting with Spotify — and surfaces what they’re currently playing on the map, while also showing what friends are listening to.

Now Playing also connects to Spotlight, Snapchat’s short-form video feed: users can save songs they discover in a Spotlight video directly to Spotify, or visit the track’s page on the platform. Users control who can see their listening activity, and the feature does not show a user’s last-played song or listening history. Sharing stays active as long as someone has opened Snapchat within the past 24 hours; if a user is inactive for longer, sharing pauses automatically and resumes only once they reopen the app. Users can also manually pause sharing for 3 hours, 24 hours, or indefinitely.

The launch follows other platforms leaning into music discovery: TikTok, whose viral trends often shape global music charts, lets users share and save songs from streaming services; Instagram lets users share what they’re listening to through Notes, the short status updates atop users’ DM inboxes; and Spotify itself has built a feature for sharing listening activity with friends in real time. “Music is one of the most personal ways people express themselves, and it becomes even more meaningful when it brings friends closer,” Manny Adler, Snapchat’s head of music, said in a statement. The feature builds on Snap Map, which has more than 450 million monthly users. Launched in 2017 as a way to see friends’ locations and browse public Snaps, the map has since expanded to include local hotspots and activities. The feature is rolling out in regions where both Spotify and Snapchat are available, with Canada coming soon.

Why it matters

Snapchat is betting that tying music discovery to location and a friend graph — rather than just a feed — gives it a distinct hook against TikTok’s and Instagram’s music-sharing features, at a moment when every major social app is racing to own the “what my friends are listening to” moment.