Shazam App Analysis

Shazam is an application that identifies music by using a music recognition algorithm. The British company Shazam Entertainment launched the app in 2002, although it was only released in the UK. In 2018 it was acquired by Apple Inc. Shazam can identify music by only hearing a short sample of whatever is being played into the microphone of any device in on which it is installed. As of 2023, Apple Inc. released data showing that the application had more than 300 million active users every month worldwide. Because users are able to hear a song that they enjoy and can find it easily using Shazam it has become extremely popular.

Usability

Because Shazam has minimal essential features and it’s interface is clean and organized it is very easy to navigate. Those features make the application very user friendly. “Shazam’s user flow is simple, intuitive, and effective, which makes it stand out from other music identification apps. (Tempesta)” The app’s goal is to minimize the cognitive load on the person using it which makes it easy for the user to locate exactly what they are hunting for.

Design

The design of the app is clean, simple, and bright. The layout of the application is also very clean and energizing. Although the colors are bright there is lots of empty space to make up for it. The illustrations used on the app fit seamlessly into the layout and add a lively touch to the general look and feel of the app.

Please disregard my screenshots concerning the design. They were taken on my phone and my phone was in night mood therefore all of the screenshots are dark.

Functionality

Shazam is a simple, user-friendly app and its main function is to identify music unknow to the user. There are only three other functions when it comes to the application. Those functions are findings new music that fits the user’s personal style, keeping a record of all Shazamed songs, and allowing the user to add music that has been found to the users personal Apple Music account or Spotify account. Remember the function of this app is solely to find music that is unfamiliar to the user therefore those three functions are truly all that it needs.

Areas for Improvement

Overall, in my opinion, Shazam is a great application and there are only a few things that I would change about it. I will only make two recommendations on how to improve the app. First, I would change that app to allow users without an Apple Music account or Spotify account to be able to save the music found to whatever music account they have. Although my second improvement for the app would be to allow for personalization of the background I have come to realize that that could in turn effect the app in a negative way. It could make the app not as clean and simple to use. For that reason I only have one improvement for the makers of Shazam

Conclusion

Overall Shazam is a very user friendly, well designed app. The way in which Shazam is able to easily find and recommend music based off of searches makes it a highly desirable application. Because it is very easy to use, well designed, and functions easily millions of people around the world turn to it whenever they want to know the name of a tune. In my opinion there is very little to improve upon and the overall user experience is awesome.

References

Dredge, S. (2023, December 6). Apple’s Shazam app now has more than 300m monthly active users. Music Ally. https://musically.com/2023/12/06/apples-shazam-app-now-has-more-than-300m-monthly-active-users/#:~:text=Apple%20has%20announced%20a%20significant,a%20figure%20for%20the%20app.

Jovanovic, J. (2015, February 2). How does Shazam work? music recognition algorithms, fingerprinting, and processing: Toptal®. Toptal Engineering Blog. https://www.toptal.com/algorithms/shazam-it-music-processing-fingerprinting-and-recognition#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20popular,song%20you%20are%20listening%20to.

Tempesta, M. (2023, April 30). Capturing the music around you: Understanding the user flow of Shazam. Medium. https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/capturing-the-music-around-you-understanding-the-user-flow-of-shazam-e13b9b9a9826

The simple-to-use Shazam app provides clean & colorful music identifications quickly and easily. DesignRush. (n.d.). https://www.designrush.com/best-designs/apps/the-simple-to-use-shazam-app-provides-clean-colorful-music-identifications-quickly-and-easily