No Longer Just for the Coffee Shop, Shazam Aims to Identify Radio, Television and Beyond

By Dana Sedgwick

Audio-identification app, Shazam, has long been the go-to service for that frustrating moment when you hear a song in the car or at your local coffee shop that you love, but don’t know. Tagging a song tells you the artist and title, creating a list you can track to remember the songs that followed you throughout your day.

But the service has slowly been expanding beyond that niche, where new competitors (such as SoundHound) have crowded the field. A recent $40 million investment from America Movil’s Carlos Slim Helu confirms the app’s determination to define an entirely new industry – media engagement – focusing not just on music, but on television and advertising as well. No longer just a resource to identify something you don’t know, Shazam is now also a place to find more about what you do know – for instance, unlocking behind-the-scenes info for your favorite show and noticing what your friends are watching in real time.

Advancement in Shazam’s technology also points towards some exciting possibilities in predictive analysis and recommendation for Shazam users and the industry as a whole. New feature “auto-tagging” can track your listening habits automatically and other fun, relevant features are said to be on the way.

We had the chance to interview Shazam’s Executive Chairman, Andrew Fisher, to get the scoop on Shazam’s new investment, new direction, and hopeful future.

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SoundCtrl: As the force behind America Movil, Carlos Slim Helu clearly has a deep understanding of mobile… Given that Latin America is one of the fastest-growing regions for smartphone adoption, how will this investment expand Shazam’s footprint there?

Andrew Fishman: Shazam has 350 million people who use the service in 200 countries, including many of those in South and Central America. The America Movil investment – as well as a business partnership with the company – will help us further expand our offerings in this important region initially via pre-loads on certain devices

SC: Slim’s investment coincides with a noticeable transition at Shazam to become a “media engagement” platform – venturing beyond music and into television, ads, etc. How and why did Shazam begin to diversify its database?

AF: Shazam is defining an entirely new industry – media engagement – enabling people to use their mobile phone to interact with the things that interest them, including television and music. This is a natural transition for our company as it uses our core technology – audio recognition – to make it quick and easy for people to get exactly the information they are looking for, at the moment they want it. The global advertising market alone is worth more than $300 billion, making this a very attractive investment for America Movil and our other investors, as well as an amazing opportunity for Shazam.

SC: How will Shazam use the $40 million investment to elevate this new strategy?

AF: While the company is already experiencing tremendous growth in our Shazam for TV service, with Shazam-enabled advertising for hundreds of global A-list brands running in 28 countries, it plans to continue investing in staffing and technology to continue this growth as well as innovating the app.

SC: Shazam initially made money by referring users to music purchase links… will Shazam now be expanding more into mobile advertising?

AF: Shazam has three primary sources of revenue: affiliate sales of digital content such as music, in-app advertising and Shazam-enabled TV advertising; this last category is our fastest-growing source of revenue. The new sources of funding will help Shazam grow its sales team to continue expanding this service in the US and abroad.

SC: How will Shazam’s social engagement strategy evolve to meet the growing demand for “second-screen engagement”?

AF: Shazam’s goal is to be the app that everyone wants to use every day, making it a part of their lives whenever they want to engage with content that interests them, whether that content is on the television, radio or anywhere else – including the second screen. Currently, people in the US can use Shazam on any program and most ads broadcast on 160 channels to unlock additional content such as cast information, gossip about the show, music featured in the program and a host of other information. Shazam is planning to continue expanding this service in the coming year.

SC: New feature “auto tagging” has some interesting potential… By listening to and tracking every taggable piece of audio you come in contact with, Shazam could predict with extreme accuracy your lifestyle and listening habits. How does Shazam plan to deliver on that end?

AF: Shazam has long been recognized by the music industry for its predictive skills. In fact, more than 80% of songs that go to the top of the Shazam Tag Charts then go on to top national charts as well. Shazam is now looking at the wealth of information around our tags – including that now provided by Auto-Tagging – to see how it can provide fun, relevant new features that its users will enjoy.

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