How to Get Discovered as a Musician With Shazam and SoundHound

 

Listen, err read closely as I take you through a hypothetical situation…

Hypothetical Situation:You’ve done it! You’ve recorded an incredible piece of music and you can’t wait to share it with the world. You hit up your friends, die hard fans, post on social media and attack the few industry contacts that you actually have contact information for. Those people play it for people, who play it for people and so on.

Now, a buddy of yours works at a very busy coffee shop and it’s his turn to pick the jams for the day. On his Nickelback infected playlist…just kidding you’re not friends with Nickelback fans…on his Passion Pit infected playlist he’s slipped in your new track. Your song blares loud and proud throughout this crowded coffee shop. It’s being vibed upon by the masses.

The Problem:
20 people love it and 20 of them have never heard it before. 20 people would love to hear it again and again. Of those 20 people, 2 of them get up and ask your friend behind the counter what the song is. 16 of them have the Shazam App for their smart phones and immediately attempt to identify this mythical jam.

The other 2 are lazy and just assume they’ll hear it again someplace else. We have a name for them back in the old country…”stunads”!!!

Back to the Shazam users…they hit a snag. Your song is not accessible through Shazam’s database and therefore, none of those 16 people find out what the song is. They too revert to laziness and assume they’ll hear the song somewhere else. That’s 16 potential fans you’ve lost times their friends times their friends etc. all because you didn’t take advantage of music tools like Shazam and SoundHound.

The Solution:
Get your music onto the proper databases that make it recognizable to music identification apps like Shazam and SoundHound. Don’t know how? I’ll show you how…

Shazam:

• Go to www.shazam.com and Login. Don’t have a Shazam account? MAKE ONE.
• Once you’ve created an account and agreed to their terms & conditions you can upload music to their database PROVIDED that your submitted content does not breach another party’s privacy right OR copyrights. If you own your music, this won’t be a problem.
• Now you can submit your music to Shazam PROVIDED…
  • you’ve attempted to ‘tag’ your music using Shazam at least twice
  • you give your email address and your name/artist name
  • you enter the name of any CD created by the artist (that’s you buddy) and the information about your music being distributed publicly

SoundHound:

• Mail your CD’s or mp3’s to
  • SoundHound Inc.
  • c/o Music Department
  • 3979 Freedom Circle Suite 400
  • Santa Clara, CA 95054

It’s that simple! Now the next time your epic jam sneaks its way into a predominantly 90’s Alternative playlist in a public setting those 16 people will take your song with them and avoid reverting to a ‘stunad-like’ state of fanhood worthlessness.

-Bobby Dirienzo, Project Manager, 12South Music