ShazamKit Now Available for Developers - Including Android!

Apple Expands Shazam’s Capabilities with ShazamKit

In 2018, Apple finalized the acquisition of music identification application Shazam for $400 million. The company is now extending Shazam’s core functionality – audio recognition – to application developers through a new framework called ShazamKit. This new tool empowers developers, even those creating applications for Android, to integrate music identification features.

Understanding Shazam’s Popularity

Many users are already acquainted with the Shazam mobile application, which allows for quick song identification with a single tap. Beyond simply naming the track, Shazam offers additional features like lyric viewing, playlist additions, and music trend exploration. Launched initially in 2008, Shazam had already established itself as a long-standing application within the App Store when Apple acquired it.

ShazamKit: Beyond Music Identification

Apple is now positioning Shazam as more than just a utility for identifying songs. The introduction of ShazamKit enables developers to harness Shazam’s audio recognition technology to build innovative and unique application experiences.

Key Components of the ShazamKit Framework

The framework is comprised of three distinct elements: Shazam catalog recognition, custom catalog recognition, and library management.

• Shazam catalog recognition: Enables developers to incorporate song identification into their applications.
• Custom catalog recognition: Facilitates on-device matching against user-defined audio files.
• Library management: Handles the organization and storage of recognized tracks.

How Shazam Catalog Recognition Works

This feature replicates the familiar Shazam experience. The technology identifies playing music and retrieves associated metadata, such as song title and artist. The ShazamKit API can also provide supplementary information like genre or album artwork, and pinpoint the exact moment within the audio where the match occurred.

Data Efficiency and Privacy

Shazam doesn’t directly match the audio itself. Instead, it generates a condensed representation, known as a signature, and compares signatures. This approach minimizes data transmission. Critically, these signatures are designed to prevent reconstruction of the original audio, safeguarding user privacy.

The Shazam Catalog

The Shazam catalog, containing millions of songs, is hosted in the cloud and maintained by Apple. Regular updates ensure the catalog remains current with newly released music.

Shazam Library Integration

Users of applications utilizing ShazamKit may have the option to save identified songs to their Shazam library. This library is accessible through the Shazam application, if installed, or via a long press on the music recognition Control Center module. Synchronization across devices is also supported.

Apple recommends that applications inform users about the saving of recognized songs to the library, as no specific permissions are required for this action.

Custom Catalog Recognition: Expanding Possibilities

ShazamKit’s custom catalog recognition feature allows developers to identify audio from their own sources, rather than relying on the Shazam music catalog. This opens up possibilities for creating synchronized experiences and second-screen applications.

For example, educational applications could use this feature to trigger activities during video lessons. Similarly, it could enable interactive shopping experiences linked to television programs.

Availability

ShazamKit is currently in beta for iOS 15.0+, macOS 12.0+, Mac Catalyst 15.0+, tvOS 15.0+, and watchOS 8.0+. An Android Archive (AAR) file is available for Android developers, supporting both music and custom audio recognition.