Song search engine Shazam turns 20 on August 19, 2022
In 2002, “What was that ringing?” Shazam came into our lives as an answer to the question. Nothing could be better, more practical. We would be able to recognize the songs through an application on our mobile phone.
Developer: Apple Inc.
Initial release: August 19, 2002
We wouldn't have to do detective-like investigations to figure out what song was playing. The lifelong torture of “what was that” was coming to an end. Now we would be able to recognize the music in one motion.
It takes one or two seconds to figure out what a song is playing today. To find songs according to your taste, it is enough to play one or two of your favorite songs in a row. The algorithm does the rest. It didn't happen either, there are lists. There are user lists. There is a search facility. There is the possibility to search by lyrics. Everything is very, very easy.
The original UK developer of the app, Shazam Entertainment Limited, was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton, Philip Inghelbrecht, Avery Wang, and Dhiraj Mukherjee. On September 24, 2018, the company was acquired by Apple for a reported $400 million.
70 billion songs were searched on Shazam in 20 years. “What was this song?” 70 billion times we wondered. At least 70 billion times someone fell in love with a new piece of music they had listened to and raced to pull out the phone and hit the Shazam button in a hurry. Because the owner of a song has been found, 70 billion times have been rejoiced and surprised.
Shazam is an application that can identify music, movies, advertising, and television shows, based on a short sample played and using the microphone on the device. It was created by London-based Shazam Entertainment, and has been owned by Apple Inc. since 2018. The software is available for Android, macOS, iOS, Wear OS, watchOS and as a Google Chrome extension.
Shazam in numbers on its 20th anniversary
- The first song to be Shazamed was T-Rex's "Jeepster" on April 19, 2002.
- Most Drake Shazamed.
- The first song to reach 1 million Shazams was BTS' "Butter".
- The first artist to reach 100 million Shazams was David Guetta in 2015.
- The most Shazamed song to date is “Dance Monkey” from Tones And I.
https://www.shazam.com/