The ground breaking mobile music recognition technology Shazam is set to become available in a second country after a licensing deal was signed with Vodafone D2 in Germany. The news was announced by the Dusseldorf-based mobile operator at this year's CeBIT - the world's largest IT and telecommunications fair - taking place in Hanover (12 - 19th March).
The service will be marketed as 'Vodafone-Music Finder' and will be available to all Vodafone D2 mobile users in Germany by dialing the short code '22 11 22'. Otherwise, the service will work in all other ways as for the service in the UK. When users hear a track they like and want to find out more, they dial the short code number, point their mobile towards the source of the music for 30 seconds, and they will receive an SMS detailing the name of the artist and title of the track.
"Other countries have been closely following the success of Shazam in the UK," explains Shazam's Music and Marketing Director, Vijay Solanki. "Now that a third of a million peope have used the service in the UK in first six months, it was inevitable that other countries would want to follow suit. We're really excited that Vodafone D2 chose Shazam to help them develop their service in Germany."
'Vodafone D2 were particularly impressed with Shazam because it is a proven success in the UK after launching last Summer. The number of awards for the service in such a short space of time is testament to its success. Its music database is very large, and its recognition quality, even under
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difficult circumstances is far superior to any other technology we've seen,' said Dr Michael Paetsch, Marketing Director at Vodafone D2.
In the last six months, the Shazam technology has won 'Best Mobile Entertainment Application' at the Ericcsson Mobile Application Awards 2002, 'Best Innovation' at the BT Openworld Interactive Music Awards 2002, 'Best New Mobile Service' at the Mobile Choice Consumer Awards 2002, and 'Web Innovation of the Year' at the Future UK Internet Awards 2002.
The Shazam technology has already started providing valuable insights into music trends. The Shazam 'Pre-Release' Tag Charts which gauge how popular tracks are amongst users of the service has proved deft at demonstrating what is 'hot' at any particular time, regardless of radio airplay or sales release dates. It has already successfully predicted Top 5 smash hits for relatively unknown artists Jaimeson ('True') and Panjabi MC after they topped the tag chart for six weeks. The track currently topping the Tag Chart is the theme to the Lynx deodorant ad, 'Make Luv', by Room 5 featuring Oliver Cheetham, set for release at the end of the month.
"We are particularly excited about the potential for comparing tagging patterns amongst German and UK consumers," adds Vijay Solanki. "Use of the new service could give us some valuable insights into music trends, and what tracks might be exciting German consumers and which might be ripe for transfer across the English Channel." •
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