WatZatSong (stylized as WatZat♫Song?), is a French music identification and

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website created by French programmers and co-founders Raphaël Arbuz and Thibault Vanhulle in 2006. The website allows users to upload files in formats such as

.mp3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...

.aac Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 encoders at the same bit rate. AAC has been stand ...

.wav Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Win ...

.m4a MPEG-4 Part 14 or MP4 is a digital multimedia container format most commonly used to store video and audio, but it can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images. Like most modern container formats, it allows streami ...

, and

.ogg Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The authors of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high-quality ...

. When logged in, users can upload these files onto the website. Posts can also be transformed into quizzes where users guess the song instead of providing a direct answer. Other users can then comment and recommend specific YouTube videos, as well as provide the song's title and

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

. Both the uploader and other users can engage in speculation regarding the legitimacy of a proposed song or artist in a ''Proposals'' section under the post's information, expressing their opinions through likes or dislikes. Once a post is solved, a seekbar appears above it, enabling users to listen to the complete song. The post remains open for discussion unless the uploader decides to delete it. Moderators have the authority to delete uploads, comments, and suggestions that violate the platform's terms of service. Users have the option to acquire a ''Premium'' pass on the website prior to uploading their post, granting their upload the privilege of being showcased on the front page. This feature applies to individual posts and can be purchased multiple times for different uploads made by the user. Users also earn awards on their profiles based on the number of songs or quizzes they have successfully identified.

History

The website's inception traces back to 2005 when Raphaël Arbuz and Thibault Vanhulle, intrigued by online music quizzes, encountered a song they couldn't recall during one of their quizzes. Vanhulle conceived an idea of creating a platform where users could hum a tune to identify songs. Arbuz embraced the concept, leading to their collaboration on coding and early production efforts from 2005 to 2006. Additionally, they enlisted the contribution of Arbuz's classmate, Erez Abittan, to further develop the website. During the website's development, Arbuz identified the creation of a Java applet for an audio recording system as the most challenging aspect. Neither Arbuz nor Vanhulle had access to a Flash

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, which provides simpler technologies for developing recording systems. The creators subsequently published WatZatSong in 2006 following the creation of a functioning recording system. The website did not start gaining significant attention until the 2010s, when music enthusiasts congregated to the platform to identify and listen to elusive songs shared by users. One of the most popular examples is

The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet" (also known as "Like the Wind", "Blind the Wind", "Check It In, Check It Out" or "Take It In, Take It Out" after lines in fan-interpreted lyrics; acronymed as TMMSOTI or TMS) is the nickname given to a son ...

, which was one of the main contributors to the site's popularity during the 2010s. The majority of website visits are still made by music enthusiasts, and as a result, WatZatSong averages 800,000 visits monthly. Another contributor to the sites popularity is that the website has become a notable hotspot for lost media, particularly lostwaves, songs with no coherent information. A notable example is "

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", a song uploaded to the website in 2021 by a user named carl92. In 2018, ''Inevitiv Pte. Ltd.'' published a mobile app for WatZatSong. The app follows the same premise as the main website but with significant layout changes. The app was last updated in 2021.

References

{{reflist Internet properties established in 2006 2006 establishments in France Music Internet forums French music websites Companies based in Paris Lostwave

History

See also

References