What Is Similarity Search?
Editors, producers, and music supervisors all know the experience of falling in love with the perfect song or music track for a project, only to realize it can’t be licensed. Maybe it’s a chart-topping hit that’s far outside the budget, or a temp track dropped into the edit just to set the mood. Either way, you still need something that captures the same feel without the legal or financial roadblocks.
That’s exactly what Similarity Search is designed for. Available to registered users on the Universal Production Music site, this AI-powered tool analyzes your reference track and instantly surfaces sync-ready alternatives from our massive catalog of over 630,000 tracks. Instead of relying only on broad searches by genre or keyword, Similarity Search gives you a dynamic and efficient way to dig deeper, uncovering music that fits your needs from playlists or albums that you may not have known about or thought to explore.
Upload an MP3, paste a YouTube link, or select a track already in the catalog, and the tool will deliver close matches that align with your reference’s tempo, instrumentation, and emotional tone. This means you can swap out that temp track for a licensed option that works just as well, fits your creative vision, and won’t blow up your budget.
With AI Similarity Search, you can save time and find the sound you’re looking for with speed and confidence.
How It Works
Using our AI-powered Similarity Search tool is simple:
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Choose your reference: Paste a link from YouTube, Vimeo, or SoundCloud, or upload an MP3/WAV.
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Select your section (optional): If desired, you can highlight the specific part of the track that best represents the mood or energy of your project.
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Run Similarity Search: The system analyzes your reference and returns matches from our 630,000+ track catalog in seconds.
With Similarity Search, the sync track discovery process now becomes exponentially faster and more efficient. The unprecedented time-saving afforded by this AI-driven tool is especially helpful for production teams working on tight deadlines. Register to find your next sound.
From Discovery to Download
Once you’ve found the right track, you can:
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Download Stems: Break down tracks into vocals, percussion, pads, or instrument groups, making it easy to shape music around dialogue or scene changes.
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Edit with integrated extensions: Work inside your editing software using our Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro extensions to search, audition, and import tracks without leaving your timeline.
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Generate cue sheets automatically: Use our Cue Sheet Helper to drop in your project files and instantly generate editable cue sheets that recognize which tracks from our catalog you’ve used.
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Stay licensed: Every track is covered under our licensing offerings, from digital campaigns to theatrical releases. That means no takedowns, no territory issues, no wasted time re-cutting with different music.
Skip the Guesswork When Matching a Reference Track
Similarity Search finds close matches no matter what kind of music you’re working with, whether it’s hip-hop, rock, ambient, orchestral, or anything in between.
You no longer have to spend hours trying to describe your temp track with keywords just to get the right results. Skip the debate over whether Beyoncé’s “Bodyguard” is best described as a “dreamy soft-rock ballad” or a “country-pop crossover” - with Similarity Search, the guesswork is removed and you can immediately surface tracks that truly match the sound and feel of your reference.
With new music added to the catalog every week, you’ll always have fresh options waiting to be discovered.
Unlock More of the Music Catalog
Similarity Search isn’t only useful when you have a reference track. With more than 630,000 syncs and new music added every week, searching the catalog manually can be time-consuming, with significant parts of the collection potentially going unnoticed. The Similarity Search tool changes all that, helping you uncover great options faster and take full advantage of everything the library has to offer.
In addition, our Music Direction service gives you direct access to human experts who know the catalog inside and out. With decades of industry experience, they can recommend tracks, custom-build playlists tailored to your brief, and respond to your feedback in real time as part of the collaborative process.
Find Sync-Ready Music for Any Project
AI-powered Similarity Search changes how you work with production music, letting you move quickly from idea to execution with results that are precise and ready to license.
Universal Production Music offers a sync-ready catalog that spans every genre, era, and mood, with tracks cleared for use across film, television, advertising, gaming, podcasts, and more. Whether you need a single track for a campaign, a blanket license for ongoing productions, or a custom agreement for a unique project, our flexible licensing models are built to support the way you create.