Shazam registers 20% user growth in 2018

The statistics are according to a report and financial statements that the company submitted to the UK Companies House.

For the year ending 31 December 2018, Shazam registered 478 million active users, an increase from 400 million users. This is despite the company’s revenues dropping by 23% to $39 million last year.

Although the company's revenue dropped, its acquisition by global tech giant Apple in 2018 reversed a 2017 loss of $19.5m to a profit of $136.8m the following year.  

Apple reportedly paid about $401m for Shazam, which can be seen as a bargain compared to the company’s $1bn valuation during the song search app's previous financing round in 2015.

The acquisition allowed Apple Music to incorporate Shazam’s features into its Shazam Discovery Top 50 chart. The playlist is populated by trending tracks and artist searches using the discovery app. The playlist uses more than 20 million Shazam queries a day to populate it.

“The principal activity of the group and company during the financial year was the worldwide provision of audio and visual recognition services via mobile phones and tablets for use with music and brands advertisement,” Shazam’s director, Peter Denwood, said

“Following the sale of its intellectual property assets, the group is engaged in the completion of any pre-existing contractual and both the company and group’s activities have continued within the Apple group.”

Launched in 1999, Shazam allows users to identify songs, movies, TV shows and other media by capturing short audio segments. It is available on both the iOS App Store and Mac App Store.