Tinder testing music streaming chat update

Matchmaking giant will soon allow music lovers to share clips of their favorite songs.

Tinder is testing a new feature that will allow users to share clips of their favorite songs through Spotify. The two services originally hooked up in 2016 to give users the ability to share their favorite songs in their profile pages. That data also became part of the algorithm used to surface potential partners. Ariana Grande fans are more likely to see other pop music fans in their feed before someone who claims “Die For The Government” by Anti-Flag, for example.

The new feature, once activated, will further music’s role in matchmaking. If chosen via a new Spotify button (shown in screenshots to be a green music icon), a song will appear in chat as a clickable preview, with the receiver able to sample up to 30-seconds of the track. The clip will also link to the full song.

The team behind Tinder believes music can play an important role in romance, and science is on their side. As The Atlantic has previously pointed out, Charles Darwin hypothesized that musical skills led to better mating options not just for birds but for humans, as well. “Musical notes and rhythm,” he wrote in The Descent of Man, “were first acquired by the male and female progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite sex.”

For over 140 years, research had not been able to verify Darwin’s theory, that is until a recent study conducted by Benjamin D. Charlton confirmed that indeed, “music is a product of sexual selection through mate choice.”

Artists can make good use of this feature as well. It would not be surprising to see artists using the matchmaking app to promote their new release to matches in their area while on tour. After all, promotion is promotion.