Report updated Jun 11, 2026
Herd
For music enthusiasts who prioritize manual curation and social sharing over algorithmic recommendations.
Herd is a market-leading music app that is completely free. With a 4.8/5 rating from 20 reviews, it delivers strong user satisfaction. Users particularly appreciate social discovery features allow users to track friend listening habits and find new music, though scrolling limitations on specific screens prevent users from completing long-form music reviews remains a common concern.
What is Herd?
Herd is a music curation app for iOS and Android that allows users to rank songs and write reviews.
Users hire Herd to build a personal, intentional archive of music memories that streaming algorithms ignore.
Current Momentum
v7.8 · 4w ago
Maintenance- Shipped manual song discovery swipe interface.
- Integrated external streaming playlist import/export.
- Redesigned profile and song page layouts.
Active Nemesis
PlayTally: Apple Music Stats
By Mike Clay
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
MusicNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
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What Are The Key Features?
Binary comparison of songs to generate ranked lists of favorites
Import and export playlists between Herd and external streaming services
Manual discovery of tracks via community and friend activity rather than automated algorithms
Text-based reviews for lyrics, memories, and thoughts attached to specific songs
How much does it cost?
- Free access to all core features
The app currently operates as a free, ad-free utility without visible monetization gates or subscription tiers.
Who Built It?
Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does Herd Music make?
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · 11 reviews analyzed
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a thrilled sentiment. Users appreciate social discovery features allow users to track friend listening habits and find new music and intentional music exploration design encourages deep listening rather than passive algorithmic consumption, but report scrolling limitations on specific screens prevent users from completing long-form music reviews.
Limited review volume (11 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for Herd?
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The Music Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
Dominates the music tracking niche with massive user-generated data and deep integration with Apple Music listening history.
Differentiators
- Provides deep, automated analytical insights into listening habits that Herd’s manual rating system cannot replicate.
- Leverages direct Apple Music API integration to track every play without requiring manual user input.
Contenders(1)
The industry standard for music cataloging and collection management, serving the same 'digital home for music' intent.
Differentiators
- Maintains a massive, community-verified database of physical media that serves as the definitive source for collectors.
- Offers a robust marketplace feature that facilitates the buying and selling of physical records within the app.
Same space(1)
Focuses on the live music experience and artist discovery, serving as a complementary utility for music enthusiasts.
Differentiators
- Aggregates global tour data to provide personalized concert alerts based on the user's specific music library.
- Connects fans directly to artists through event notifications, shifting the focus from song rating to live engagement.
New entrants(1)
Shows aggressive growth and high release velocity, targeting the same demographic interested in music statistics and discovery.
Differentiators
- Implements high-frequency feature updates that rapidly respond to user requests for new data visualizations and stats.
- Focuses on social sharing of 'wrapped-style' listening summaries that drive viral growth and user acquisition.
Compare Herd against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for Herd
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Social discovery features tie engagement to peer interaction
- Manual curation creates unique user-generated content that increases switching costs
Critical Frictions
- Scrolling bug on review screens blocks content submission
- Manual-only input model creates high friction compared to automated trackers
Growth Levers
- Integration of concert data bridges the gap between song rating and live engagement
- B2B partnerships with independent labels for artist-led curation
Market Threats
- Automated stats-trackers siphon users who want insights without manual effort
- High-velocity updates from stats.fm accelerate viral growth
What are the next best moves?
Fix scrolling bug on review screens because user complaints block content submission → increase review completion rate
Scrolling limitations are the #1 complaint in user reviews.
Trade-off: Pause the profile page redesign sprint — fixing the submission funnel is higher priority for retention.
Build automated import for listening history because manual input is the top friction point → increase new-user conversion
Manual input is the primary barrier identified in competitor analysis vs PlayTally.
Trade-off: Deprioritize the manual discovery swipe feature expansion — automation is a higher-leverage acquisition tool.
A counter-intuitive read
Herd's manual-input model is not a weakness but a deliberate filter that ensures only high-intent users join the community, protecting the quality of the social graph from casual, low-effort noise.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Automated listening history tracking (available in PlayTally but missing here)
- Real-time concert alerts (available in Bandsintown but missing here)
Key Takeaways
Herd builds strong retention through intentional curation, but the manual-input barrier limits its scale against automated rivals, so the PM should prioritize automation of library imports to reduce user friction.
Where Is It Heading?
Stable
The music-tracking market is consolidating around automated data-viz tools, leaving manual-curation apps like Herd exposed to churn from users who prefer passive insights. Herd must bridge the gap between manual intentionality and automated convenience to maintain its position against high-velocity competitors.
The persistent scrolling bug on review screens blocks user content creation, which directly limits the growth of the app's unique review database.
The recent addition of playlist import functionality lowers the barrier to entry, which should improve new-user retention by reducing the time to first value.