News October 27, 2015

Shazam pairs artists with fans on new social feature

Former Editor

Pitbull, Calvin Harris, Meghan Trainor, Avicii and Jason Derulo are among two dozen artists who have given Shazam users access to their behaviour on the app.

While the move coincides with Apple Music’s launch today, where the appfeatures a social network called Connect, Shazam isn’t aiming to take on Apple’s feature. The music discovery platform has included a ‘Listen On Apple Music’ button on its new feature, allowing users to listen to the artists ‘Shazamed’ by the artists they follow.

In fact, Shazam has a long history of partnering closely with Apple, from the launch of the very first iPhone, to Shazam becoming a part of Siri, to being one of the first apps on Apple Watch, to today’s launch of Apple Music.

Speaking to TMN, Steve Sos, VP APAC, Shazam said: “With this launch and Apple Music, fans can effortlessly turn these moments of discovery into listening experiences by tapping the ‘Listen on Apple Music’ button on every track page.”

Shazam has partnered with over 30 artists for the new feature, giving them a combined audience on Shazam of 600 million. No Australian acts are currently involved but through Shazam’s partnerships with all major labels has welcomed “hundreds of additional artists, big and small, from around the world to share their favourite tracks with fans.”

Sos added: “Shazam will be working closely with all labels, artists and their management to on-board any and all appropriate artists over time.”

The song-sharing feature will be made available in the updated versions of the iOS and is currently available on Android mobile applications. To follow artists’ behaviour on Shazam, users need to follow artists either by browsing through the Artist Page or Shazaming one of their songs. Once you follow artists, their Shazams will appear automatically on your Shazam home screen. You can also navigate to any artist and see their Shazams, most popular tracks, music videos, and announcements including single and album updates.

Sos told TMN the need for digital services to offer their users a peek inside artists’ behavior, is important.

“It’s very important. It allows fans to experience the soundtrack to their favourite artists’ lives as it is created,” said Sos. “The experience of following what your favourite artist Shazams comes from a real time, authentic connection to something that’s happening around them.”

From today, the Shazam app will also include “Shazam Counts”, a first for the app, which tallies the number of times a song has been Shazamed.

The below artists arethe first to let fans in on their discoveries: