Music discovery tool Shazam, which lets users look up tracks they hear using the microphone on their smartphones or tablets, has added a new feature that allows users see what select artists and bands are Shazaming (now a perfectly acceptable 21st century verb) themselves.
Bands and artists that have signed on include Pitbull, Calvin Harris, Avicii, Maroon 5, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Jason Derulo, One Republic, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons and Coldplay.
According to Shazam CEO Rich Riley, Shazam receives 20 million song look-up requests daily. Here at Stuff Towers we only contribute a fraction of those because our collective near-encyclopaedic music knowledge means we only occasionally use the service, primarily to impress elderly relatives and underwhelm small children.
Users can access the new feature by following artists via Shazam’s apps. Doing so will also keep users abreast of new singles, albums, and videos from the artists they follow. The service will also allow users to listen to songs they’ve Shazamed using Apple Music, which launches in 100 countries today.
The service is also revealing how many times individual tracks have been Shazamed for the first time. This could well prove invaluable to record labels and other music industry types looking to spot hits early. Already Shazam’s data is able to predict the next big hit before the mainstream media catches onto it.
