Shazam enables users to see what their favourite artists are discovering on the service
Shazam today announced an expansion of its music discovery features, enabling users to follow their favourite artists and to see what those artists are Shazaming at any given time.
The new feature launches with some of the biggest names in pop music including Pitbull, Calvin Harris, Meghan Trainor, Avicii, Jason Derulo and Coldplay.
Daniel Danker, Chief Product Officer at Shazam, stated:
“The biggest artists in the world are also the biggest fans. They use Shazam every day to explore new music, and for the first time ever, their fans can share in those moments as they happen.”
Users will be able to follow artists on Shazam and what they are discovering will appear automatically on the app.
What’s in it for the artists taking part? Well, those who choose to follow an artist on Shazam will also be notified if that artist has a new release, such as a single, album or video, which means that it will be easier for them to get the word out about new music. It is not hard to imagine that soon these notifications could extend to tour dates.
Commenting on the new feature, Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy statd:
“As an artist, I’m a big fan of discovering new music and Shazam helps me keep a pulse on that. I’m stoked to be able to share what I’m into with millions of fellow music fans.”
Shazam is increasingly working on giving people additional reasons to engage with the app other than actually Shazaming something. In order to accommodate this new feature, the company has tweaked the app adding a Personal Music Home which will now show the tracks Shazamed by artists followed by each user, as well as Artist pages which will feature their Shazam discoveries and their top tracks as well as music videos.
Finally, for the first time Shazam is revealing the number of times each track has been Shazamed. This is an interesting development since that number had long been shrouded in mystery and available primarily to a portion of music industry professionals who use that data to determine radio airplay and how ‘hot’ a track actually is.
(Andrea Leonelli)