Apple Marks 20th Anniversary of Shazam
22 AUGUST 2022 - Though I knew and used the audio recognition app Shazam long before Apple bought it, I had no idea how long before Shazam had been a thing. Quite a while, it turns out. Apple issued a press release Friday, celebrating the service’s 20th anniversary. According to that:
August 2002: Shazam launches as a text message service based in the UK. At the time, users could identify songs by dialing “2580” on their phone and holding it up as a song played. They were then sent an SMS message telling them the song title and the name of the artist.
That sounds both crazy amazing and crazy primitive. Other points of note on the Shazam timeline:
The iOS version of the Shazam app launches in July 2008
The Android version launches in October 2008
Apple buys Shazam in September 2018
The app hits one-billion uses per month in June 2021
Shazam hits two-billion installations in May 2022
Shazam turns 20 in August 2022 - hitting 70 billion all-time Shazams.
The release features a list of historical facts - first song ever Shazamed, first song Shazamed through the iOS app and so on. They’ve also curated a playlist of the most Shazamed song each year for the past 20. You can find all of that and more in Apple’s online newsroom.
