Shazam It!

Imagine you’re at a party and the DJ is playing a hot song. But the problem is that you don’t what the song is called. Or even who sings it. Ever been in that situation?

Well, the answer has come in the form of Shazam, a free app that allows you to identify whatever song is playing within mere seconds.

It’s as simple as ABC. All you have to do is go into the app, press ‘Touch to Shazam’ and there you have it.

Shazam not only identifies the song, but also shares a link to the video as well as the lyrics if you’re really that into it.

If you thought American music was the only market, you thought wrong. South African songs are included in the database as well as classical music from abroad and other songs which you might not know.

The app also allows you to check out songs of the day, music that’s hitting the charts these days (in various genres) as well as the most ‘shazamed’ tracks in the vicinity (yes, Windhoek included). It’s pretty useful if you’re a music head and feel like joining the 100 million other people who have downloaded the app already.

Here’s a bit of history about the app: Shazam was founded in 1999 thanks to Chris Barton, Philip Inghelbrecht, Avery Wang and Dhiraj Mukherjee and its headquarters are based in London in the United Kingdom.

Two years ago, Shazam announced that it could identify 15 billion songs, but imagine how big its database is today, as music is released by artists all over the world every day. And that includes the remix of popular songs which are underground and loved by DJs everywhere.

Ever wondered how it works? Shazam analyses the music it ‘hears’ through the microphone on your phone and searches through its database to match the song using an ‘acoustic fingerprint’. And as it browses through its catalogue, it selects the song which is similar to the acoustic fingerprint, and you’ll have your answer within seconds.

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