Major Interest in Shazam

In a week defined by sales speculation and the unutterable phrase ‘techquisition’, The Gen retreats to the less colourful world of the cold, hard fact to report that the three remaining major labels have all bought a stake in Shazam. Universal, Sony and Warner Music have all reportedly plugged $3m into the service that arguably defined ‘music discovery’ with its recognition of songs through a smartphone app and a prescient ability to predict commercial trends in the industry- a crystal ball of sorts that reportedly caused thousands of ‘talent scouts’ (remember them?) to form a mass exodus from Camden pubs to the relative safety of their screens.

Music Ally reports that Shazam’s latest valuation of $500m means that each label has less than 1% of the company. Still, you have to start somewhere with the new tech bandwagon and better to go with a tried and tested brand than a hip yet risky Silicon Valley start up. With tech basically being the new financial industry (long hours, male dominated, loadsa money), many expect Shazam to go public on the stock market in the not too distant future.

As previously reported, Warner courted Shazam earlier in the year by co-founding a label with the service based on acts discovered through its app.

In related news, TechCrunch reports that a recent Shazam update pulled the rug from under Spotify support in the UK and other territories.