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07/04/2018
Article
WhoSampled is like Shazam for samples and cover versions

WhoSampled is an iOS (and Android) app that tells you whose samples were used in the music you’re currently listening to. Just like Shazam, you hold it up to a playing tune, and WhoSampled identifies the track. But then it also gives you a breakdown of all the other songs that were sampled to make that track, and can even list cover versions.

The app bills itself as a way to discover a song’s DNA. WhoSampled has actually been around for a while, offering this information in a manual way. You could search for a song to find out all about it, kind of like IMDb, for music. Now, though, with the Shazam-style music recognition, it’s a whole lot more useful. Kind of like the difference between having a maps app on your iMac versus a maps app on your iPhone.

Once a track has been correctly identified, WhoSampled will tell you who made it, who they sampled, who has made cover versions of the track (or who made the original, if you tagged a cover), and more.The sample detail is impressive, too. You get data on sample timing, sample type, and the part sampled. This lets you listen to the original track to compare it to the sampled version. If you’re a musician, it could help you find that original sample to grab it yourself.Best of all, the catalog is human-created, so it really gets into the details. There are currently 500,000 songs indexed.The WhoSampled app costs $4 on iOS, and is free and ad-supported on Android. The new track-recognition feature will cost an additional $10 per year, paid for as an in-app subscription. If you don’t fancy paying that, then the app can also tag the currently playing track in your Music app, so you could keep on using Shazam, and open up WhoSampled once Shazam has done its thing.Price: $3.99 with in-app purchasesDownload: WhoSampled from the App Store (iOS)