Shazam App Can See Now

Popular Shazam app adds visual recognition capabilities.

Shazam today announced the introduction of visual recognition, new functionality that extends the app from song recognition to the visual world. Shazam can recognize posters, packaged goods, print media, and more making it an interesting value proposition for brands. Shazam  announced a series of partnerships with leading brands around the world to Shazam-enable their products.

Starting today, users with the latest version of Shazam installed on their mobile phones can open the app and tap the new camera icon to start the visual feature. Whenever they wave their phone over any item with the Shazam camera logo on it or a QR Code, they’ll instantly get taken to custom mobile experiences including interactive content, special offers, and ability to purchase items or share them with others.

This capability will live side-by-side with the existing Shazam audio functionality people rely on to discover new artists, catch up on favorite acts, listen to music, and use while watching TV.

With more than 100 million monthly active users, visual recognition within Shazam enables a near-frictionless way for brands to drive deeper, more impactful engagements with a massive audience in a single tap. Additionally, Shazam can build unique mobile experiences for these brands, eliminating the burdens associated with building and maintaining custom specialty apps. 

The first brands that use the Shazam visual feature include Disney, Target, Esquire, SELF, Time, Wall Street Journal and more. 

Disney has partnered with Shazam to create the world’s first visually Shazamable ad (for the Tomorrowland movie) and will continue to roll out visual Shazam-enabled content for upcoming movies. Disney Music Group will also be part of the visual Shazam rollout with content from their artists being Shazam-enabled.

Shazam is a free download in the iTunes App store.