13/10/06
Get rich quick
A very quick thought among all of the YouTube/Google stuff. I just read this quote this morning,
YouTube founder Chad Hurley has also sought to play down copyright fears. “We’re committed to developing tools to identify the content and monetise it so [content owners] can have a new outlet for their content.”
and it made me suddenly remember a great mobile service called Shazam that I was really into 3 or 4 years (or thereabouts) ago. Shazam is a technology that has, apparently, indexed lots and lots of music, and can recognise and therefore identify tracks based on a very short clip. So, the service had it that you would hear a song (say on the radio, in a club, wherever) that you didn’t know, dial 2580 (the numbers down the middle of the phone keypad) and hold the phone in the general direction of the loudspeaker. The call cost 50p, and after about a minute, you get a text back with the details of the tune.
When I last tried it, I have to admit that despite previous successes, it couldn’t identify an obscure (but awesome) electric miles davies bitches-brew era tune that was included in a brilliant Somethin’ Else documentary. I think it told me it was something like Britney. But other than that it always worked.
My point is that Shazam never had a clear business model to me beyond the (limited) SMS use. I wondered whether PRS could for example use it to go into clubs to check up on fees being paid – but that seems a little draconian.
It’s only now that the answer is clear. Should Google be serious about identifying (music) copyright, Shazam would be a brilliant tool for doing so, and could be embedded into the upload process of YouTube. Ta-da! So, buy Shazam stocks pronto – my guess (although my predictions are a little off this month) is that it could easily be bought by Google if only to mollify the RIAA that they are trying to protect copyright.
All we need now is to extend the system to film dialogue / sound tracks (how would that work in dubbed versions? hmmm) and they’re on.
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