Warner And Shazam Hold Hands

Shazam is a great service that can tell you what song you're listening to, which millions of people use around 16 million times each day. In fact, it has 420 million users who are consistently using the app to identify songs, which provides it with a very powerful set of data of who's listening to what and when.

Warner Music Group wants to tap into that data, and has made an agreement with Shazam to verify the play data from other sources, but also find new unsigned artists. You can almost think of it as crowd-sourcing new talent.

Other social networks have been sharing their big data for some time, so the fact that Shazam is now doing it isn't particularly earth-shattering. What is different about the deal is that it establishes a Shazam-branded label for the new artists that are discovered.

Shazam has a database of 35 million songs and adds more than a million new ones a month. Chances are pretty good that if someone is listening, Shazam knows about it, and now that can benefit new artists.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.