Shazam, the mobile music recognition company, today announced that it has partnered with Zed, the leading mobile phone content provider to launch a new ringtone service. This latest development of the original Shazam service will give consumers the option to buy the ringtone of the song they have just 'tagged', bringing an element of interaction and immediacy to the ringtone transaction. This new service will further benefit the mobile industry by encouraging consumers and music lovers to interact with their music via Shazam by using the premium services offered, creating further revenue streams.
The service will work when a user 'tags' a song by dialling 2580. They will receive a text message telling them the name of the song and the artist and also offering the opportunity to buy the ringtone for a wide range of popular tracks. To buy the ringtone, the user simply texts the keyword for the track to Zed on 8007 from their Nokia mobile, and they receive their new ringtone via SMS a few seconds later. The service will cost £1.50, one of the lowest prices in the current ringtone market. By creating this new way for consumers to buy ringtones, Shazam and Zed also benefit record labels who earn royalties from
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sales of ringtones. Last year the music industry earned $71 million in royalties from ringtones alone. [Source: Baskerville, January 2003]
The ringtone offering builds upon Shazam's original service, the world's first-ever real-time song identification service that works anywhere. When users hear a song they like they simply dial Shazam's four-digit number, 2580, from their mobile, point their mobile towards the music, Shazam cuts the call after 30 seconds, and immediately they learn the name of the song and the artist via text message. The company has developed a break-through technology in audio pattern recognition to enable this service, which has four patents.
Jerry Roest, CEO of Shazam, commented: "this is a fantastic new addition to our service and provides another way for consumers to interact with music via their mobiles. Our original service is hugely popular, with over 400,000 users. Our new Songmail service which allows users to send a 30-second song clip to a friend's mobile is already taking off too and we are confident that this new instant way to buy ringtones will be equally popular" •
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