BMI Acquires Song Identification Technology from U.K.-Based Shazam

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:57am.

New York -- BMI, the performing rights organization that represents 300,000 songwriters and 6.5 million works, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the technology assets of Shazam Entertainment, a developer of mobile music recognition technology. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Terms of the deal call for Landmark Digital Services, a new subsidiary of BMI, to acquire the music recognition technology from U.K.-based Shazam -- which it will rename BlueArrow. Shazam will receive a worldwide exclusive license from Landmark to continue offering the music recognition technology to consumers; Shazam's service lets users dial a number, hold their cell phones up to a speaker playing music, and receive a message sent to their phones containing the artist and song title of the song being played. BMI plans to use the BlueArrow technology to identify members' songs played on various media, including radio and TV, to track and process royalty payments. "Pattern recognition technology is the single most promising way to identify music performed on today's media and further into the digital future," said BMI president and CEO Del Bryant. "BlueArrow technology will give us a powerful new tool for the identification of music played on radio, television and in digital media."
http://www.bmi.com/news/200508/20050830a.asp
http://www.shazamentertainment.com