Shazam Redesign Hints at Apple’s Future Plans for the Platform

Today, Shazam received a significant update and redesign for the first time since Apple announced its acquisition of the British music identification service.

Several new features and changes were added in the update. And while that normally wouldn’t be notable, the introduction of those features may hint at Apple’s plans for its newest platform purchase — and how it could implement deeper integration of Shazam with its own Apple Music streaming service.

The Shazam results page, which pops up when a user identifies a song, has now been simplified. Instead of the previously cluttered page littered with sharing options, the results pane simply displays the song and a large picture of the artist. Tapping on this picture brings up additional information about the song.

Other interface changes include a streamlined track-result menu that puts lyrics, artist videos, updates and other details into a single place. If Shazam is connected to Apple Music or Spotify, users can now easily add a song to their playlist with a single tap.

There’s also a new “lyric syncing” feature. Tap on the appropriate button, and Shazam will display the song’s lyrics in real-time as it’s playing the track.

While these features might have been planned before Apple’s acquisition, the timing of it doesn’t seem coincidental. The lyric syncing feature, specifically, is extremely similar to the real-time lyrics in Spotify, which are powered by Genius.

On the other hand, Shazam has received fairly regular minor updates since Apple announced the purchase in December. That suggests that the company could keep Shazam a standalone service and app — at least, for the foreseeable future.

Of course, Apple’s purchase of Shazam isn’t finalized quite yet. So any tentative speculation about how Apple could use the service’s technology should be taken with a grain of salt. Just last week, the European Commission said that a handful of countries had asked for a probe into the acquisition, citing concerns that the deal could threaten competition.

The Shazam update, version 11.7.0, is currently available form the App Store Updates page.

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