Business News Digital

Shazam losses up as it moves into other domains

By | Published on Friday 26 September 2014

Shazam

Shazam posted losses of £5.8 million for the second half of 2013, compared to losses of just under £2 million for the previous twelve months.

Analysing the figures, Music Ally notes that from July 2012 to June 2013 the music identification tech provider reported revenues of £31 million, with the £2 million losses. But for the second half of 2013, while six month revenues were in line with the previous year at £16.9 million, losses were significantly up pro rata.

It’s no secret that Shazam, an early player in music apps, has been pursing ambitious growth in the last couple of years, most notably into the TV and advertising domain, and therefore it’s not entirely surprising losses are rising while revenues stay constant.

That revenues were pretty much level in the second half of 2013 compared to the first, despite the service seemingly continuing to grow its user base, may be a sign that one of the firm’s key revenue streams to date, the small commission it makes when tracks identified by its app are then bought from iTunes, is levelling out, in line with the wider download market.

Of course, given that download income looks likely to slide in the coming years – and given that the mechanic for earning by sending users to listen to tracks on a streaming service of their choice is less clear – Shazam’s move into other domains which could open up other revenues is probably a sound one. Even if it’s costly in the short term.



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