There's a reason it's used a lot, but for meditation it's because it requires no effort to do. Finger tapping is more of a distraction exercise used to intercept anxiety in CBT, and not suitable for meditation.
There are many other things you could try and focus on though. Visually you could use something like a candle (focus on the flame), a water feature etc. I think it's easier at the start to focus on something audible though so maybe try and find something you like using like white noise, the hum of a fan, running water or a constant tone. I don't believe music is meditative at all. The point is to have something benign to focus on, something that you can move your awareness back to when your mind wanders. Not something that in itself can provide stimulation (music, tapping etc).