The tech giant will use Shazam’s technology to identify artists or labels of the small clips and samples in DJ and dance mixes so they can be properly compensated and credited on the platform, according to TechCrunch. Apple is the first music streaming platform to offer a fair fee for artists involved in these mixes and tracks. Shazam’s identifying tech also will benefit listeners. The Verge notes that Apple Music subscribers will be able to see the name of individual tracks while listening to a mix, skip songs within the mix, and save songs to their library. The tech also will tell you what year the mix is from or which music festival it was played at. Even though Apple’s announcement addresses the difficulties of royalties in the DJ/dance mix genre, it does not address user-generated content available to the public (think SoundCloud mixes). According to a study by MIDiA Research, user-generated content could be worth as much as $6 billion in the music industry by next year. Apple initially acquired Shazam in 2018, which allowed for better integration between Siri and Shazam, so you could simply ask, “Who sings this?” or “What’s the name of this song?” Although this Shazam tech gives Apple an edge over other streaming platforms, it only comes in at number two in music streaming subscriber numbers with 72 million subscribers as of last year. Spotify still reigns supreme in subscriber numbers with 158 million premium subscribers and 356 million monthly active users as of the beginning of this year.
