Shazam Is Free Again

Shazam, the popular music identification app, is free again for unlimited use on iOS. Shazam started out as a free service when it launched, but switched a couple of years ago to a two-tiered model, one that allowed users a limited number of song tags per month for free, along with an unlimited, ad-free subscription model. In April, the Android version went back to unlimited free tagging, but the iOS version just reverted back to free a couple of weeks ago.

Paidcontent cites a number of reasons for the change:

• A maturing mobile ad market. Capital One is making a huge buy as part of the reintroduction of unlimited tagging on iOS
• Increased competition from SoundHound and others.
• Big money in affiliate music sales. Shazam claims it sells $100 million worth of music every year based on a billion song tags.