Shazam

Apple’s music recognition service Shazam surpassed 100 billion song recognitions since it launched in 2002. A person would need to use it on their iPhone, iPad or Mac to identify a song every second for 3,168 years to reach that number.

“This monumental milestone not only reflects how much people enjoy using Shazam, but also their appetite for new music,” said Oliver Schusser, VP of Apple Music and Beats. “Music discovery is at the core of everything we do, and we keep innovating to make sure music lovers around the world can tap the Shazam button no matter where they hear music playing!”

Shazam, Apple’s popular app that can name any song in seconds, added a cool new feature Thursday in version 17.3 — it now works even when you wear headphones.

And that’s true for music playing around you or within apps like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, Apple said.

Apple-owned music-identification app Shazam now lets users find live music through a new feature called Concerts, the company said Wednesday.

It surfaces shows in the iOS app’s My Music section based on a user’s Shazam history.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: What does Apple’s star-studded September 7 event invite mean? Some of the speculation is pretty “far out,” but Erfon thinks he has the answer.

Also on The CultCast:

• The M2 MacBook Air humiliates a pricier Dell laptop.
• Shazam still works like magic (and somehow Apple didn’t screw it up).
• Zombie cinema-subscription service MoviePass is coming back from the dead!
• Don’t miss Best Buy’s killer freebie: three months of Apple TV+, for new and returning subscribers.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

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Apple bought the popular music-recognition app Shazam, which can name any song you hear, in 2018. Friday marks the app’s 20th birthday. And this week it officially surpassed 70 billion song recognitions, Cupertino said.

That’s a lot of people in bars wondering what the tune is.

Ever wonder what song is the most “Shazamed” of all time? Well, Apple provided that nugget and many other factoids, and referred to a lot of interesting music you may want to check out.

You may know the Shazam app, owned by Apple, for its ability to recognize songs and artists. But a new update to the app for iOS now also helps you “explore upcoming live music shows.” This comes from a Shazam integration with Bandsintown. Apple and Shazam said the new feature will help increase exposure for artists.

If you’re yet to try out Apple Music, now’s your chance. Shazam is offering five months of free and unlimited access to new subscribers who sign up before January 31, 2022. Some existing subscribers can get two months free.

You’ll need to use your iPhone (or an Android smartphone if that’s what you’re into) to redeem the offer.

We want to help you master Control Center, one of the most powerful and underutilized features on Apple devices. Cult of Mac’s Control Center Pro Tips series will show you how to make the most of this useful toolbox on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.

When you’re listening to a song you dig, but you have no idea of its name or the artist who recorded it, you can use Control Center on your iPhone or iPad to identify the track in an instant.

It’s the simplest way to invoke Shazam, the powerful music-recognition tool built into iOS, aside from asking Siri to name that tune (which you probably don’t want to do in certain situations). We’ll show you how.

Apple turned to country music legend Dolly Parton, Squarespace and the Super Bowl to promote Shazam and a new deal on Cupertino’s streaming music service.

You can use Shazam when listening to Parton’s just-released 5 to 9 advertisement to get five free months of Apple Music. That’s two months more than the usual offer.

Apple on Friday gave developers access to iOS 14.2 golden master, along with the iPadOS equivalent. This is the last step before releasing these new versions to the public.

When available to all, iOS 14.2 will offer plenty of fun new emoji, as well as Shazam music recognition integrated into the Control Center.

Anyone can start testing iOS 14.2, along with the iPad equivalent, thanks to the new public betas released Monday by Apple.

The first developer beta of iOS 14.2 and iPadOS 14.2 went out Thursday, just a day after the full release of iOS 14. The most notable new feature in the new betas builds the Shazam music-recognition service into the Control Center.

It’s not clear what’s happening with iOS 14.1, but it isn’t part of Apple’s testing program for developers.

Shazam is finally offering Apple Music integration on Android, almost two years after the music identification service was acquired by Apple.

Users have the ability to identify songs and enjoy full versions of them using their Apple Music subscription. The feature comes with a beta tag for now, but works just as you would expect.

Apple Music’s standard free trial offer is a generous 90 days. But, for the holidays, someone in Cupertino has decided to double this.

By using the Shazam app, would-be Apple Music subscribers can get a total of 6 months Apple Music for free. And you can even get some free months it if you’re currently, or have previously been, an Apple Music subscriber.

Apple’s acquisition of music recognition AI company Shazam had a big impact on the company’s financials.

According to freshly posted financial results, Shazam’s user base hit 478 million active users in 2018. That’s up from 400 million the year before. Profits before tax hit $158.4 million, a big increase on the $19.4 million it lost in 2017.

The latest Shazam update is out now on iOS, giving users the ability to see exactly when they last searched for a certain song. Simply scroll through your history of Shazams and you’ll find a date and time alongside each entry.

Apple has pulled all but one third-party SDK from Shazam in its latest update.

The move wipes out analytics firms, ad networks, open-source projects, and more — including Google AdMob, Facebook Ads, Amazon Ads, and DoubleClick. Only HockeyApp, a Microsoft platform for beta testing, is still available.

Apple has confirmed its acquisition of Shazam is now complete, nine months after it was first announced.

The company’s first move will be to rid the music service, which is used more than 20 million times every single day, of pesky ads that most users have to endure. Later on, Apple promises more great ways to discover and enjoy music.

The European Union has given its official stamp of approval to Apple’s acquisition of UK-based music discovery app Shazam.

While the deal was announced way back in December, it has been held up until now by an EU antitrust investigation, based on the popularity of Shazam and the amount of data it holds. This investigation was requested by seven European countries, including France, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

Apple has been trying to buy Shazam since last December, but the deal has been held up for months by regulators in the EU. That’s reportedly just about to change.

It’s likely Apple wants this music-identification app as part of its ongoing battle with Spotify.

WhoSampled is an iOS (and Android) app that tells you whose samples were used in the music you’re currently listening to. Just like Shazam, you hold it up to a playing tune, and WhoSampled identifies the track. But then it also gives you a breakdown of all the other songs that were sampled to make that track, and can even list cover versions.

Apple’s acquisition of Shazam is now under investigation by antitrust regulators in Europe.

The European Commission is concerned that the deal will give Apple an unfair advantage in stealing users from its rivals. It has promised to provide a decision by September 4.

Apple has formerly requested approval for its Shazam acquisition from the European Commission.

EU antitrust regulators confirmed last month that they had launched an investigation into the deal following concerns from seven European countries. Apple will get a decision next month, but it may not be final.

Apple’s recent acquisition of Shazam might be a great way for the company to drive subscriber growth, according to one early Shazam investor.

DN Capitol chief executive, Nenad Marovac, gained a deep understanding of Shazam’s business model after his firm invested in it back in 2004. Marovac says Shazam will be a great way for Apple to try to catch up with Spotify in terms of subscribers, if it can convert enough Shazam users.

A brilliant iPad port of one of the greatest turn-based strategy games of 2016, Civilization VI, is just of one of our picks for this week’s “Awesome Apps of the Week” roundup. In addition, we’ve got neat updates for the official Reddit and Shazam apps, plus a game that you control… using your eyebrows?

Check out our picks below — and have a very happy holidays!

One of the most popular third-party apps on the App Store has officially been purchased by Apple.

London-based Shazam has long dominated the App Store charts with its ability to recognize any song, movie or TV show. Now Apple is bringing that tech in-house by purchasing the startup for nearly half a billion dollars.