Remember the song that was playing at the bar last night that you just had to know the name of? You busted out the iPhone and fired up Shazam to tag that sucker, and now that you've got it in your collection, so you can forever relive that magical first time you heard it. But whatever happened to immediate gratification? And since when was it possible to enjoy a song without fumbling through the lyrics? This morning's upgrade to the popular music tagging app has your back -- the premium versions of the service have added the LyricPlay feature, which syncs to the song you're listening to, displaying its lyrics as it plays. The feature is currently available on the $6 Shazam Encore and (Shazam) Red apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. It works with 25,000 plus songs and growing, and is set to become the bane of bartenders around the world by the middle of next week.
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Shazam Makes First Corporate Acquisition with Synchronized Lyrics
Purchase enables unique, new feature, "Shazam LyricPlay" in Encore, giving fans lyrics for more than 25,000 songs in sync with music
London, UK – 15 June 2011 - Shazam®, the world's leading mobile discovery company, today announced its first corporate acquisition with the purchase of synchronized lyric technology from Tunezee, a Silicon Valley-based company. As a part of the announcement, Shazam is immediately launching Shazam LyricPlay, a new feature in the Encore premium App that allows Shazamers to view lyrics synchronized in real-time with the music they are listening to, wherever they are.
Andrew Fisher, Shazam's CEO said, "Shazam leads the marketplace for mobile discovery and we constantly strive to develop even greater consumer experiences. We are committed to make the necessary investments to build or acquire innovative technology in order to enhance these experiences as we continue to innovate and enhance the world's leading mobile discovery service."
The new feature automatically synchronizes lyrics with a music source. Shazam incorporated it into its core technology, improving its accuracy, and added a layer of animation and visualization to create a fun and engaging way to see the lyrics in real-time with the song. In parallel, Shazam has built a database of lyrics to launch the new feature with a comprehensive and growing library of more than 25,000 of the most popular Shazam'd songs.
Shazam LyricPlay creates a more interactive experience, letting fans go beyond discovering the song title, artist and other great information; now they can also see the lyrics with eye-catching visual themes in synch with the music they have just Shazam'd.
How does Shazam LyricPlay work?
For anyone using Shazam Encore they simply:
1) Tag a song they like;
2) Activate the feature by tapping the new LyricPlay icon when it appears in a Tag result and turning their device horizontally to a landscape position, then watch the lyrics as they scroll, jump, pop or slide in real-time with the song;
3) Stop LyricPlay by tapping the lyrics for options to return to the Tag result for that song.
Each LyricPlay session will be distinctive, as striking visualization themes integrate colors from the cover art of the tagged track.
"We believe Shazam LyricPlay is a world's first and significantly enhances the magical experience Shazamers love," Fisher concludes.
The feature is available for free within the Shazam Encore and (SHAZAM) RED Apps for iPhone and iPod touch and is available* in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.
LyricPlay is the latest product innovation announced by Shazam. Most recently, Shazam released 'Shazam Friends' for iOS and Android, a real-time feed of songs that Facebook friends have tagged, creating a continuously updating list for Shazamers to discover and share new music with others.
The updated Shazam Encore and (SHAZAM) RED Apps are currently available for existing Shazamers. New users can download the premium Encore App for $3.99 for a 1-year subscription or a one-time fee of $5.99 on iOS.
* Launching first in the US and Canada for Shazam Encore and rolling out into other territories.
