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By George Norman - Software News Editor

Added on 19 Oct 2009(281 Views)

Shazam, the music discovery application that was welcomed to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile earlier this month, is growing in popularity – considerably. Compared to the month of February, the total number of Shazam users has increased by 15 million. This means that Shazam has a worldwide user base of more than 50 million people. With this growth comes more good news: Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPBC) will place a strategic investment in Shazam to accelerate the music discovery provider’s growth.

Shazam CEO, Andrew Fisher, comments: “This milestone and the backing of KPCB is a testament to both the success and enormous potential of Shazam. Not only are significantly more people around the world accessing the service every day, they are using it with increased frequency, discovering and acquiring new music and sharing their discoveries with friends all from their mobile phones. Shazam is profitable and experiencing sustained acceleration in its growth rate. We are delighted to be partnering with KPCB, who join our existing investors Acacia Capital and DN Capital and will help us execute against the significant market opportunity ahead.


Shazam, which was featured in one of Apple’s “solving life’s dilemmas one app at a time” ads back in '08, works something like this: whenever you hear a song that you like very much, but no matter what you do you cannot figure out who is singing it, just take out your smartphone and launch the Shazam app – it is available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Mobile phone. Shazam will analyze the audio stream and provide you with all the necessary information about the song you are listening to; things like song title, band name, where to go and download it.

The free Shazam version allows you to identify 5 songs per month. The paid version, which will only set you back $4.69 (one-time fee) can identify an unlimited number of songs. And it comes with a few extra features.

KPCB, who are known for backing big names like Google and Amazon, will finance Shazam so that its services will get even better over time. Matt Murphy, KPBC, comments: “We’re delighted to be leading this round of financing for Shazam. Their iconic application is among the most popular and sticky in the mobile industry. We’ve met hundreds of companies and received thousands of mobile app business plans, but none have distinguished themselves on par with Shazam. We’re still in the early days of the mobile application phenomenon and Shazam’s leadership in the massive mobile entertainment and discovery category, positions them to be at the forefront as it evolves.”

If you would like to get Shazam, check out this link.





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Tags: Shazam, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, KPBC

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