With increased competition in the media-fingerprinting and recommendations space and an ever-growing number of new music services vying for our attention, incumbents like Shazam are finding it harder to stay relevant.
Shazam is of course wildly popular so it’s not really going anywhere. On the other hand, with growth slowing – they have 150 million users – the company has now decided to redesign the iPhone app in order to increase engagement.
The app redesign signals bigger changes coming to the service later this month. Both Shazam and Shazam Encore have received this visual makeover, now live in the App Store…
TechCrunch reports that the incoming Shazam redesign focuses on TV results, music videos and lyrics, with a lyrics preview appearing as soon as a track is matched.
“A larger refresh of the app” is expected to roll out over the month ahead.
Other changes include easy access to previewing, buying and sharing a track and quicker access to related videos and recommendations unique to Shazam, according to a media release sent out this morning.
The new card-style interface can be seen on the screenshot in the upper right corner.
As you can see, the revamped UI has a much cleaner look and bigger buttons that make it easier to preview a track on streaming services such as Rdio and Spotify, share your Shazams on social media, purchase matched songs from iTunes and more.
I especially like how recommendations are now a tap away, another clever design choice that should boost engagement. According to Shazam, those of you in their test group are going to get a sneak peek of the new Shazam experience.
Android users will get the new look in a few weeks’ time, Shazam said.
Ad-supported Shazam is free in the App Store.
To get rid of advertising and gain access to advanced features, download the $6.99 Shazam Encore from the App Store.