Collab Music App Review: TikTok's Newest Rival? 

The Collab app allows users to create short-form music videos by combining up to three independent videos into one collective creation. Primarily marketed to musicians, the aim behind the platform is for one musician to upload a video of themselves playing a portion of a song — then, other artists or instrumentalists stack their own audio on top of it, forming an entirely new rendition of the original track. 

For example, a Collab could consist of a guitarist, drummer, and singer, each playing a part of one song. Within the app, all three separate parts and videos are combined to create one single music video collaboration.

In order to create a Collab video, you can either upload your own three 15-second videos and sync them together, or you can build upon another musician's Collab by syncing yourself to their video.

The best part of the app is that Collab does all of the technical video editing and syncing for you. This means you don't need any prior editing experience to create virtual masterpieces with other musicians. 

After the app finishes its video editing, the completed 'Collabs' show three stacked videos magically playing in sync, almost like you’re in a virtual jam session with people from across the world. 

Facebook says, “With Collab, you feel like you’re jamming with the band from the comfort of your bedroom. The most important factor: No musical experience is required — if you can swipe, you can create a Collab.”

Although Collab is made by Facebook, the app must be downloaded separately. It is currently only available for iOS/Apple users, and only for those located in the U.S. or Canada. 

When you first open the Collab app, you’ll see an endless feed of videos that are called ‘Collabs’. If you’re familiar with TikTok, the home screen experience is very similar. You can scroll through to watch different Collabs made by other users, or find one you want to join and remix.

If you find a Collab you’d like to join in, click on the video and swipe left on one of the three rows that you want to replace with your own video. Collab will display a video upload button, and you can choose to upload a video saved in your camera roll. Collab’s automatic video editing software will sync your recording with the other two videos.

If you’d rather start a Collab from scratch, you can upload three separate videos, which the app will automatically sync into a cohesive production. The three videos will be stacked on top of one another in the final Collab, which gets published to the app's public feed.

Each video that’s created is also posted to a public “Collab” feed, where people can view and play along with it if they choose. As you discover musicians you like to play along with, you can favorite them and receive notifications whenever they post new clips. Collab will also personalize your home feed based on your favorite accounts and scrolling behavior.

Also, if you lack musical experience and don’t want to upload any of your own videos, you can always play around with mixing other people’s videos together — so you don’t even need to be a musician yourself to enjoy the app. Plus, every user is properly credited for their contributions, according to Facebook.

The biggest benefit of using Collab is that the app takes all the work and complexity out of audio and video syncing, automatically lining up different videos so they all play together.

Not only does Collab sync the videos’ speed and rhythm, but it also adjusts audio quality to make the music sound more blended. On the right-hand side of the Collab video editor, you can adjust each video's sound levels to your liking.

During the beta phase, Facebook also tested Collab with dozens of headsets and hardware configurations to optimize Collab for a variety of different setups. Users can now incorporate external audio interfaces to bring music from electronic instruments, keyboards, guitars and drum kits into their recordings.

Although the Collab app isn’t directly integrated with Facebook (just yet), you can export the finished videos to your Instagram story and other platforms including TikTok and more. 

To do so, simply click on the export arrow on the bottom of a Collab to pull up a menu and directly export the video to your Facebook page, Instagram feed, or other social platform like TikTok. If you export a Collab, the video will feature a Collab watermark and attribution of any other artists’ usernames.

Current users also use their Collab bio’s to include links to their other social media pages. This way, as their presence on Collab grows, their other social media pages will grow too. This is a great way to connect and create with other talented musicians across the globe, without ever having to actually meet face to face. 

Facebook’s goal for Collab is to carve out a niche in the short-form video space that offers something more than just a clone of TikTok, Instagram Reels, or Snap Chat Spotlight.

The app was built and embedded by a community of musicians, who understand the needs and wants of musicians. One of the most beautiful things about the platform is that users actually get the opportunity to connect with one another — both inside and outside of the app. There is a real community blossoming among people who might not have ever made music together previously. 

Whether you’re an established or aspiring musician, music producer, or audio artist, Collab is a great place to start experimenting with audio and video in new and creative ways. It is also a great place to find music industry connections that may serve your career a greater purpose later down the road. 

Although the mechanics in Collab could allow for different types of mashed up videos in the future, like videos including dance or humor, the app’s primary focus is music — which is a different strategy from most of its other competitors. 

Which is exactly why we feel that Collab is a fantastic app for musicians. It’s a perfect merge between creative collaboration, social connections, video editing, and experimental music making. It’s also user friendly with a quick to learn interface. Unlike the competing video-maker apps which can take several, if not hundreds of attempts of creating a video before nailing the perfect one.

With so many emerging video making/music sharing apps on the market today, it’s easy to believe that they all may operate the same. However, with Collab being the birth child of Facebook itself, it’s safe to say that Collab is much different than its competitors.

Users have quoted the app as “a space that allows creativity, connection, and most of all fun”, “Since downloading this app, it’s been fun getting notifications of other users collaborating with my piece. It’s fun to hear their spin on something that I worked on.”

So, if you have spare time on your hands, we highly recommend you download the Collab music app. Whether you are a seasoned musician or just a music lover in general, Facebook’s new Collab app is great for everyone!