Image: © natanaelginting/Stock.adobe.com
Players of Heardle in Ireland and other countries will now be able to listen to the whole song on Spotify at the end of the music game.
Spotify has acquired music trivia game Heardle for an undisclosed sum to use it as a tool for music discovery.
Inspired by the popular word-guessing game Wordle that took the world by storm earlier this year, Heardle gives players six chances to guess a particular song by playing the first few seconds of the opening – with the music snippet increasing in length after each guess.
Soon after it went viral, Wordle was bought by the New York Times for a ‘low seven-figure sum’. Now, Spotify has snapped up the musical version of the game, promising to keep its look and feel intact, and to keep it free for players.
“We are always looking for innovative and playful ways to enhance music discovery and help artists reach new fans,” said Spotify’s music chief, Jeremy Erlich.
“Heardle has proven to be a really fun way to connect millions of fans with songs they know and love and with new songs … and a way to compete with their friends as to who has the best musical knowledge.”
Erlich said that Heardle has quickly built up a loyal following since it was launched earlier this year and it aligns with plans to “deepen interactivity across the Spotify ecosystem”.
“Playing Heardle might just help you to rediscover old tracks you may have thought you’d forgotten, discover amazing new artists, or finally put a title to that wordless melody you’ve had caught in your head forever,” Spotify said in a statement.
Heardle is one of a string of games that cropped up in the wake of Wordle’s popularity, such as Quordle, where players must guess four words instead of one, and Nerdle, a game for maths enthusiasts.
Starting with users in Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, players will now be able to listen to the full song on Spotify after the guessing game is over. Heardle was previously integrated with SoundCloud for this feature.
“Further down the road, we are also planning to integrate Heardle and other interactive experiences more fully into Spotify to allow music lovers to connect more deeply with artists and challenge friends – and have some fun in the process,” the company said.
However, some users have complained of losing their game history and other glitches since the acquisition, according to BBC News.
The acquisition of Heardle may make strategic sense for Spotify. The Heardle website was visited by 41m people last month, according to TechCrunch. Following its purchase of Wordle, the New York Times attracted tens of millions of new users to its website.
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
