How to Find a Song Name From a Movie

It happens all the times. You are watching a movie or a TV show, and all of a sudden you hear an exceptionally great song. A song that not only makes the scene even better, but also sounds so damn well on its own. In fact the tune is so good you 100% want to find out the name of the song and who’s playing it. So how do you identify it?

The easiest way to find out the name of the songs from a movie is to check the credits at the end of the film. The credits list all the songs and the artists who performed them.

So with films it is pretty easy and straightforward. But TV series are a bit different. Typically these shows are not obliged to include the soundtrack list in the end credits. This is done primarily because they shows want to reduce their episode run time.

But there’s a way to figure out the tune that you like in the TV series as well, more about it in this article.

How To Find The Song From A Movie

There are two main ways to find the tune that caught your attention in a movie. One is to look into credits, and the other – is to search the internet. The first is more straightforward, the second one takes longer but gives way more information.

Credits Section

Looking at the end credits is the easiest way to learn the names of the songs that you particularly liked in any given movie. They are typically listed in chronological order, so if the song was played right in the beginning of the film, it will be listed first. This helps to identify the composition even faster.

Movies also have music scores in addition to separate songs by recognizable artists. So, you will hear a music playing in a scene, and it will be just a symphonic or orchestral part on the background, no lyrics. Such music pieces are composed specifically for a scene, to boost its effect and set the overall mood.

These scores can be lengthy as well, and the same track can be used multiple times during the movie. That’s why when done right you get a feeling that the whole film has this continuous, defined and long lasting vibe. It makes it more recognizable. The scores are done by a selected composer and are approved by a movie director.

A good example of such composer would be Hans Zimmer, who did the soundtracks for both Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two. There’s a super cool video where Mr. Zimmer explains how he came up with all the crazy sounds and effects for this movie. Here, you can check it right there:

And this is a similar video about the work on the soundtrack for the second film:

Google “Film’s Title Soundtrack”

If you don’t want to wait for the end credits, or you simply can’t do it for whatever reason, next best thing is to simply search the internet. If you use Google for example just type the name of the movie AND add the word soundtrack in the search box.

The results page will most likely show you a big resource like Wikipedia, where you will find all the necessary information about both the score and songs used in the film.

For example if you google the “Crow soundtrack”, the top result will be the Wiki page The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. It mentions the entire Track listing, plus links to The Crow: Original Motion Picture Score of original, mostly orchestral music.

How To Identify Songs From TV Shows

Searching “Show/Episode + Song”

As you might have noticed TV shows usually do not show the list of the songs used in their episode. There are exceptions of course. Sometimes this is a part of the agreement with music artists and they do include the info in the credits, but very often the soundtrack is not mentioned. So what’s the best way to find the name of the songs? Internet, of course.

Searching the name of the TV show with the Episode number + adding the word “song” in the query is the best and easiest way to identify the songs used in it.

If there are multiple seasons, include the season number in the search as well. After that just check the results page and find the website that has the best information and better usability. Some even include previews of the songs.

Power of YouTube

You can also use YouTube for the same search. If the song is particularity good and many people noticed it, you can bet there will be fresh YouTube videos of this very same song. Sometimes mere hours after the show has aired. Yes, that fast!

And in the comments section you will meet other fans who enjoyed that tune. That’s also true about songs used in trailers. many people will mention the song title and how they think it fits or not. So it’s nice way to get additional info and maybe even socialize.

What To Do When No Soundtrack Is Listed Online

In some rare cases you will not be able to find any information on the soundtrack for the movie or TV show on the vast planes of internet. Believe it or not, but that does happen on some occasions. It happened to me many times, actually. Probably because in addition to being a music fan I am also a movie fan and I watch a lot of stuff.

But when you can’t find the name of the songs or the band online, YouTube or other platforms, don’t give up yet! There is a way to try and zero in on that elusive tune.

Listen to the song during the movie, pause it if needed, and write down the lyrics that you hear. Then copy/past these lyrics into Google search. The chances are you will identify the name of the song and the artist behind it.

Now all you got to do is check this specific song on Youtube or Spotify and see if this is the one you heard. Because even if it is the same song, meaning the same title with the same lyrics, the version used in the movie/show may be performed by a totally different artist.

Movies and shows often use cover versions actually. Sometimes these covers sound very good and fit the scenes better than the original. And while we’re talking about covers, feel free to check my list of Best Cover Songs Of All Time.

The same trick of “searching the lyrics” can be used when looking for songs from movies.

Conclusion

Soundtracks to movies and TV shows can be searched online if the list of the songs are not mentioned in the credits. You can you your favorite search engine or platforms like YouTube to find the specific song or the entire soundtrack album and listen to it right there.

It’s a great way to find new music and meet bands and artists you might never heard before. Take a look at this guide – Best & Easiest Ways to Discover New Music for more useful tips.