Shazam has ID’s 12 tracks for every person on the planet

Most music lovers have now heard of Shazam, Apple’s service that lets you identify songs you hear using the microphone on your iPhone. That service has now been used to identify 100 billion tunes, Apple said – that’s 12 pieces of music for every person on Earth, the company observed.

What Apple said

“This monumental milestone not only reflects how much people enjoy using Shazam, but also their appetite for new music,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats.

“Music discovery is at the core of everything we do, and we keep innovating to make sure music lovers around the world can tap the Shazam button no matter where they hear music playing!”

What and who is Shazam?

Shazam launched in 2002 as an SMS service in the UK. To identify a track you dialled a number and used your phone’s microphone to listen to the track. The service then sent you the name and artist via text.

Later, in 2008, it became an iPhone app thanks to the introduction that same year of the App Store. The service became very popular until in 2018 Apple acquired the company. It is now available across multiple platforms and deeply integrated into Apple’s own products and services.

Music Recogntion on Macs and iPhones uses the tech, while the latest watchOS update adds Shazam as a widget to the Smart Stack, suggesting music recognition whenever music is detected nearby.  The company says the service, which can also be made available via Control Center, now has over 300 million monthly active users.

Apple attributes Shazam’s popularity to its ability to capture global music trends and moments, like during this summer’s games in Paris when Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” became the most identified song in one minute. Apple has published a collection of the service’s top 100 songs of all time, which is available on Apple Music.

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