Apple introduces ShazamKit API audio recognition tool

The announcement of the tool’s release was made at this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which ends today. The API tool will allow developers to access Shazam’s music recognition software and create more engaging audio experiences within their apps.

The tool works across platforms, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS and Android, and marks one of the first Android APIs Apple has introduced to the platform

“Match music to the millions of songs in Shazam’s vast catalogue or make any pre-recorded audio recognisable by building your own custom catalogue using audio from video, podcasts and more,” Apple says.

ShazamKit uses the unique audio signature of a sound recording to find a match, generates a reference signature for each recording and stores it in a catalogue. In addition to Shazam’s music-recognition capabilities, the app can be used for recognising other sounds, including podcasts and movies.

App developers can pin actions to those specific signatures like pairing an education app to a video to cue when to move on to a new activity. The tool could also be useful to audio streaming services, startups and music companies.

Launched in 2002, Shazam allows users to discover, interact with and share video or audio content on various devices by capturing short segments of music, movies, ads and TV shows. In 2018, the app was acquired by Apple for $400m. The platform’s app has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times globally, with over 25 million shazams daily. More than 200 million fans worldwide use Shazam to discover new music every month, allowing Shazam to predict music trends and hits earlier than most other services offering similar functionalities.