In the midst of razor-sharp competition in music technology, Shazam –  a music identification service that graced smart phones in the early 2000’s – has stayed at the top of the heap by spreading its utilization across a variety of new platforms. In a year’s time, Shazam has jumped from 60 million to 88 million monthly active users, an increase largely accredited to both a new CEO and the application’s ability to adapt and transform. This flexibility is exemplified by their newly added television service, which acts as an ‘interactive advertisement’ by allowing users to access unique and exclusive content like photos, music or links by simply ‘Shazam-ing’ a commercial or a portion of a show.

It comes as no surprise then that the innovative application is poised to raise $20 million in funding, coming to a total valuation of $500 million according to Recode. Shazam has already received plentiful funding, including $32 million from venture funders along with a $40 million sum received last summer which included a deal with Latin America’s wireless service, America Movil, as an agreement to pre-load the application onto mobile phones in certain regions.

Shazam in the music sphere has solidified its importance by providing a necessary service. However, Jason Del Rey expressed doubts regarding Shazam’s young push towards television expansion.

“The beauty of the main music-discovery feature of the app is that it allows you to get the name of a song you simply can’t identify in another way … Shazam is trying to make this transition [into television] by delivering additional content about both shows and TV commercials to the mobile app, yet it’s nearly as simple for a person to just Google an advertiser or type in a URL if they really want to act on that commercial right then and there.”

Via: Recode

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