Shazam’s 200 million users tag 7 million songs per day, and the UK music discovery app now uses this data to predict what songs will become hits before they crack the charts.
Will Mills, Shazam’s director of music and content, explains how Shazam “can already see in advance which songs will be big, because their tagging pattern is quite peculiar. We can notice unusual behavior around a specific track — thousands of people thinking: ‘Wow, what the hell is this?’ and using Shazam to find out the answer. This usually starts weeks or even months ahead of the trend.”
The start-up has proven itself in the past by accurately predicting the success of artists such as Lana del Rey and Jessie J prior to going mainstream. “In fact, up to 85 percent of the songs that get to number one in Shazam’s charts go on to break into national top 10 charts, as well,” Mills adds.
Shazam has also proven valuable due to its ability to convert tags into purchases. Mills notes: “[checking out a song on Shazam] has a big impact on engagement. This is true of sales, with no less than 8 percent of our users going on to buy that song they have checked — but it also translates into other actions, such as checking when that band will go on tour and buying tickets.”
Shazam’s 200 million users tag 7 million songs per day, and the UK music discovery app now uses this data to predict what songs will become hits before they crack the charts.
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