Shazam Predicts the Acts to Watch for 2014 – Including Martin Garrix, Banks and Kid Ink

“Blurred Lines” and “Royals” lead the US list of 2013’s most-Shazamed tracks

More than 400 million people world-wide have used the service, driving record activity

New York and London – December 2, 2013 - Shazam®, the world’s leading media engagement company, today released its annual prediction of the artists that it expects will break during the coming year, including Martin Garrix, Banks and Kid Ink.  It also listed the most-Shazamed songs of the year, including Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Lorde’s track “Royals”, which received 17.8 million and 9.4 million tags, respectively, worldwide.  Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Rihanna topped the US list for most-Shazamed artists.  Additionally, Shazam announced today that it now has more than 400 million people who use the service globally, driving record activity of more than 15 million Shazams every day.

2014 New Artists to Watch

The Shazam music team selected the following artists by starting with qualitative industry tastemaker selections, which is then ranked using the quantitative data of Shazams of those artists.  This makes it more scientific than just subjective opinions. And to a degree it democratises the process, as it has the input of Shazam's hundreds of millions of users rather than just the industry or a handful of critics.  The performers expected to make headlines in 2014 are:

·  Action Bronson – Queens native Bronson lists early influences as Wu-Tang Clan.  He launched his first album 2011 but gained huge Shazam tags in 2013 after releasing several hotly tipped mix tapes.

·  August Alsina – August's single “I Luv This Shit” has been one of the most Shazamed rap tracks of 2013 and his mix tape tracks are also gaining traction with hip hop heads

·  Banks – Born Jillian Banks, she started writing music as a teenager in suburban LA and released an acclaimed EP in 2013.

·  Jhené Aiko – Collaborations with Drake and Big Sean thrust her into the public eye in 2013.  Now, after releasing a mix tape, 'Sail Out', Aiko looks set for big things.

·  Kid Ink – XXL Magazine listed Kid Ink among artists like Danny Brown and Macklemore in its 2012 Freshman Class feature.  Signed with RCA/Epic, Kid Ink is set to release his first album under a major label this year.

·  Lucy Hale – Best known for her role as Aria Montgomery on the ABC Family series, Pretty Little Liars, Hale is set to be the next country star.

·  Martin Garrix – Dutch DJ best known for his track, “Animals,” Garrix is the youngest person ever to top the Beatport charts.

·  Rich Homie Quan – Georgia native and artist for the Island Jam label, Quan has been named by the New York Times as one of “Atlanta’s rising generation of rappers … who deliver lines with melody and heart, like singers on the verge of a breakdown.”

·  Sam Smith – London-born Smith contributed the soaring vocals on Disclosure’s 2013 hit, “Latch” and Naughty Boy's “La La La.” He prefers the raw soul style in the vein of his favorite artists, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin.

·  Vance Joy – Originally from Melbourne, Vance Joy has already achieved success in his native Australia with his single, “Riptide,” and is set to break globally this year.

To purchase the tracks for the Artists to Watch, visit Amazon or iTunes.

Predictions from previous years include Haim and French Montana (2013 predictions), A$AP Rocky and Lana Del Rey (2012 predictions).

2013 Year in Review – Robin Thicke, Avicii and Lorde Break Out and the Number of Artists with More than Five Million Tags Increases Nearly 10x

The year 2013 will be best known as the year Robin Thicke’s dance track “Blurred Lines” became the soundtrack of the summer and with newcomer, Lorde, storming the charts worldwide with her debut track, “Royals.”   But they can’t touch Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who owned 2013 with three successive hits “Thrift Shop”, “Can’t Hold Us” and “Same Love.”

Top Shazamed Songs (Total Shazams)

Top Shazamed Artists (Total Shazams)

Overall, Shazam’s activity has increased at an astronomical rate:

·  In 2011, Adele led the world chart with four million Shazams.

·  In 2012, there were five artists that had achieved more than five million Shazams. 

·  This year, there are 43 artists that have achieved more than five million Shazams.

Complete lists of top tagged tracks and artists can be found here.

Top Shazamed TV Shows and Tracks

Television shows continue to be a key driver for breaking new artists and reviving older songs.  For instance, the final episode of Breaking Bad saw more than 43,000 people Shazam the Bad Finger song, “Baby Blue”, The Walking Dead drove 300,000 tags for Ben Howard’s “Oats in the Water” and Girls broke Swedish duo Icona Pop and their hit, “I Love It” which went on to be Shazamed more than two million times in the US.

Most Popular TV Shows

Shazam Charts and the Music Industry

Shazam tag charts provide reliable data that gives the industry insight into which acts and tracks resonate with consumers.  The 2013 report includes annual charts for the world, US, UK, Europe and Australia as well as sub-genre charts for independent dance music and hip-hop which bring quantifiable data to a market which is difficult to track using traditional charts due to non-traditional distribution.  For instance, mix tapes usually include songs that haven’t been formally released yet, but since artists want to gauge response, they will make sure the tracks are loaded in the Shazam database early. 

“Data - in particular the unique and pure signal of using Shazam with music is a key part of breaking new artists and songs for the music industry. The Shazam data in our charts helps labels and the media more than ever see where their artists and songs are resonating in a market. And with the maps feature in our apps this even shows this down to the zip code level, so you can see highly specific regional trends,” said Will Mills, VP Music & Content “Up to 85% of the songs that get to number one Shazam’s Tag Charts go on to break nationally, making it one of the most accurate predictive measures for success and a key driver for Shazam of more than $300 million in digital music sales through our partners.”

For a complete list of music charts as well as TV and Advertising charts, visit the Shazamers.com blog.  Additional information includes Shazam’s Subgenre charts for Hip Hop, Dance Music and Country Music.