I once read in an article (that I unfortunately can't find right now) that the the worth of Shazam lies in the fact that it can recognise, which songs are trending. The value chain is approximately like this:
1)New song is released
2)It starts being "shazamed" by various people - it's becoming trendy
3)Large stores that differntiate themselves by being trendy want to play trendy songs first
4)They pay Shazam to tell them which songs are trendy
5)The stores play them
6)Customers "shazam" those songs in the store
7)Customers view the store as trendy
8)Now four instances have profited: Shazam, the store, the musician and the customers (for having found a trendy song very early on)
The UK CEO presented some of their different data capabilities at the agency where I used to work: they were encouraging advertisers to use this data to soundtrack ads.
The different 'shazam'd songs were also connected to locations and user demographics so if you wanted a track that was going to be big in a specific community you could get a good guess.
I’m not sure what the middleman is, or which way the money flows, but there are also services that provide new music to retailers. The retailers get access to the current trendy ambiance, and the artists get exposure in an environment where people are consciously accessorizing. Half the time I use shazam it’s in a store (the other half being lyfts).
1)New song is released
2)It starts being "shazamed" by various people - it's becoming trendy
3)Large stores that differntiate themselves by being trendy want to play trendy songs first
4)They pay Shazam to tell them which songs are trendy
5)The stores play them
6)Customers "shazam" those songs in the store
7)Customers view the store as trendy
8)Now four instances have profited: Shazam, the store, the musician and the customers (for having found a trendy song very early on)