Shazam (service)
Encyclopedia
Shazam is a commercial mobile phone
based music
identification service, with its headquarters in London
, England. The company was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton (now at Google
), Philip Inghelbrecht, Dhiraj Mukherjee and Avery Wang .
Shazam uses a mobile phone's built-in microphone to gather a brief sample of music being played. An acoustic fingerprint
is created based on the sample, and is compared against a central database for a match. If a match is found, information such as the artist, song title, and album are relayed back to the user. Relevant links to services such as iTunes
, YouTube
, Spotify
or Zune
are incorporated into some implementations of Shazam.
. Customers dial the shortcode 2580 from their mobile phone and hold the phone to capture any music playing in the background. The service analyzes the captured sound and seeks a match based on an acoustic fingerprint
. The result is sent to the customer in the form of an SMS
. Customers are charged for the call to the shortcode and are charged for any successfully matched (tagged) tracks.
Shazam is also a free or low-cost application for some Android devices, Apple iPhone
, BlackBerry
devices, Nokia
smartphones, Windows Phone
devices, and most Sony Ericsson
phones (not to be confused with Sony Ericsson's own TrackID, which is a similar application). The application is similar on most phones and, unlike before, it does not text the response, instead the result is shown on the screen complete with details on Artist, Album, Title, Genre, Music label, a thumbnail image of the song/album artwork, links to download the song on iTunes
or the Amazon MP3
store and, where relevant, show the song's video on YouTube
.
A similar application is available for Java
compatible handsets called ShazamiD. ShazamiD differs from the smartphone applications in that ShazamiD is a subscription service and only available in the UK (customers currently pay £
2.00 per month and must text a shortcode to receive a link to the midlet), whereas Shazam for other platforms is a free application.
/HIV
relief in Africa
, part of the Product Red
campaign. There are some small differences between Shazam and the paid version, Shazam Encore, most notably the music tagging limit. With Shazam, the user is given five free tags per month. This means that if a user tags five songs in one day, they can't tag any more until the start of the next day. However, on Shazam Encore, there is no tag limit, so the user is allowed to record as much as they like. Shazam is currently available in 200 countries and 30 languages.
s" used by Shazam are based on spectrogram
data representing time, frequency, and intensity. A song match is found when these peak intensity frequencies match over time. Shazam identifies published recordings only; live concerts, singing, and humming will not work.
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
based music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
identification service, with its headquarters in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England. The company was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton (now at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
), Philip Inghelbrecht, Dhiraj Mukherjee and Avery Wang .
Shazam uses a mobile phone's built-in microphone to gather a brief sample of music being played. An acoustic fingerprint
Acoustic fingerprint
An acoustic fingerprint is a condensed digital summary, deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database....
is created based on the sample, and is compared against a central database for a match. If a match is found, information such as the artist, song title, and album are relayed back to the user. Relevant links to services such as iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, Spotify
Spotify
Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had...
or Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
are incorporated into some implementations of Shazam.
Implementations
Shazam's oldest service, started in 2002, is the 2580 service, accessible only in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Customers dial the shortcode 2580 from their mobile phone and hold the phone to capture any music playing in the background. The service analyzes the captured sound and seeks a match based on an acoustic fingerprint
Acoustic fingerprint
An acoustic fingerprint is a condensed digital summary, deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database....
. The result is sent to the customer in the form of an SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
. Customers are charged for the call to the shortcode and are charged for any successfully matched (tagged) tracks.
Shazam is also a free or low-cost application for some Android devices, Apple iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
devices, Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
smartphones, Windows Phone
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
devices, and most Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
phones (not to be confused with Sony Ericsson's own TrackID, which is a similar application). The application is similar on most phones and, unlike before, it does not text the response, instead the result is shown on the screen complete with details on Artist, Album, Title, Genre, Music label, a thumbnail image of the song/album artwork, links to download the song on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
or the Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3 is an online music store owned and operated by Amazon.com. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights management from the four major music labels , as well as many independents...
store and, where relevant, show the song's video on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
A similar application is available for Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
compatible handsets called ShazamiD. ShazamiD differs from the smartphone applications in that ShazamiD is a subscription service and only available in the UK (customers currently pay £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
2.00 per month and must text a shortcode to receive a link to the midlet), whereas Shazam for other platforms is a free application.
Service
Shazam offers three types of applications; a free-to-try program simply called Shazam, their pay-to-play program called Shazam Encore, and their most recent addition called (Shazam)RED. Shazam Encore and (Shazam)RED do not differ in features or price (both are priced at 5.99 USD) but a portion of the application payment for (Shazam)RED purchases is donated to support AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
/HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
relief in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, part of the Product Red
Product Red
Product Red, styled as RED, is a brand licensed to partner companies such as Nike, American Express , Apple Inc., Starbucks, Converse, Bugaboo, Penguin Classics , Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark and Dell...
campaign. There are some small differences between Shazam and the paid version, Shazam Encore, most notably the music tagging limit. With Shazam, the user is given five free tags per month. This means that if a user tags five songs in one day, they can't tag any more until the start of the next day. However, on Shazam Encore, there is no tag limit, so the user is allowed to record as much as they like. Shazam is currently available in 200 countries and 30 languages.
Technology
The "acoustic fingerprintAcoustic fingerprint
An acoustic fingerprint is a condensed digital summary, deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database....
s" used by Shazam are based on spectrogram
Spectrogram
A spectrogram is a time-varying spectral representation that shows how the spectral density of a signal varies with time. Also known as spectral waterfalls, sonograms, voiceprints, or voicegrams, spectrograms are used to identify phonetic sounds, to analyse the cries of animals; they were also...
data representing time, frequency, and intensity. A song match is found when these peak intensity frequencies match over time. Shazam identifies published recordings only; live concerts, singing, and humming will not work.
See also
- Query by hummingQuery by hummingQuery by humming is a music retrieval system that branches off the original classification systems of title, artist, composer, and genre. It normally applies to songs or other music with a distinct single theme or melody. The system involves taking a user-hummed melody and comparing it to an...
- Acoustic fingerprintAcoustic fingerprintAn acoustic fingerprint is a condensed digital summary, deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database....
- Similar apps:
- SoundHound
- Midomi
- Gracenote’s MusicID-Stream