Shazam, BMI Evolve Relationship

Song identification outfit Shazam is reacquiring from BMI the Audio Recognition technology and related patents that it uses to identify music. Shazam originally sold BMI these Intellectual Property rights in 2005 to help fund its development. By reacquiring the Intellectual Property, Shazam will integrate the technology more fully into its services, expanding its product set as well as adding to its growing IP portfolio.

Under terms of the new agreement, Shazam will assume ownership of the IP while BMI will retain its full capability in the business-to-business space to use the technology to detect and identify performances of music, and will become a shareholder in Shazam. BMI will continue to include the technology as part of its BMI Recognition Services, layering the audio recognition service with other digital products to measure the use and identity of musical works across a broad spectrum of analog and digital platforms.

Recently Shazam has added more than one million new users every week, with the total number around the globe exceeding 150 million.