June 14, 2004
Shazam Success Story
An interesting article on the success story of Shazam - the company that can identify any music track via a mobile phone - by the UK Times Online.
The entire article is interesting, but this caught my eye:
"With 750,000 users in Britain, Shazam is starting to become a good indicator of future hits. Before Panjabi-Mc, a British Asian artist, was on the radio or in the shops, for instance, he was being played as a dance track in clubs and was Shazam's No1 request for weeks. He later went on to top the official charts. It is little surprise that the music industry closely watches Shazam's weekly chart of pre-release tracks.
New services, such as ringtones, are being added, and Shazam is working with record labels to promote new releases.
Last September, Sting became the first artist to promote an album through a new Shazam service, Mass Songmail. Fans rang to hear a clip of his single, Send Your Love, and to enter a competition. More promotions are planned with the Ministry of Sound and other labels. “We do everything first in the UK,” said Roest. “It is a test-bed and showcase for all our other partners.”
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