Meet Drops, the new music app bringing back the fun of sharing songs with friends

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. Drops is the version of that I always wanted,” Hunter added.

The app is easy to navigate, with tabs including “For You,” “New,” “Showcase,” and “Following,” along with relevant and trending hashtags.

Users can like, comment, repost, share, and save tracks to collections called Droplists. They can also send songs directly to other users, follow other profiles, and exchange direct messages.

To listen to the entire track, Drops offers integrations with major streaming services, including Apple Music, Qobuz, and TIDAL. Users can jump directly into the full version of the song through their connected streaming platform.

Notably, the company says it doesn’t use generative AI for audio or visuals. Songs appear as they were originally released, using official album artwork and licensed artist photography. At a time when AI-generated music and slop are becoming harder to avoid, this will likely appeal to many users.

Another part worth noting is that Drops pays rights holders and reports plays back to its partners. Those partners include Universal Music Group, Beggars Group, Empire, Symphonic Distribution, and UnitedMasters.

Plays also count toward streams on those services, meaning Drops isn’t trying to replace existing music subscriptions.

Drops is currently invite-only, with U.S. users able to join the waitlist. 

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Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch.

You can contact or verify outreach from Lauren by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at laurenforris22.25 on Signal.