For years, Shazam has been THE app for identifying songs that you like but don’t know the name to. After more than fifteen years, however, the company has decided to branch out into something new: visual discover. Whereas Shazam has always been limited to music, the app now has a new feature that allows users to identify visual media such as books and movies, all in the name of marketing.
Shazam, the music discovery app used by millions is turning its attention to recognising images too, as it looks to expand its offerings in a search for new revenues. The British technology start-up, which is run between offices in London and New York, is introducing a new feature that would allow users of mobile devices to use their cameras to scan an image with the Shazam logo. These logos will appear on items such as “posters, packaged goods or print media”. On their mobile screen, users will then be shown anything from a movie trailer for the film being promoted to an online store where they can buy the goods in an advertisement. The move pits Shazam against a number of other fledgling tech groups, including London-based rivals Blippar and Powa Technologies. They are all developing “augmented reality” apps that can identify objects and pictures in the real world. These groups believe that the technology will create a new multibillion-dollar market, allowing companies to target advertising at willing consumers while making it quicker for interested customers to locate and buy items over the internet.
