SoundHound

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SoundHound

SoundHound Mobile Icon
Developer(s) SoundHound, Inc
Initial release 29 January 2009 (2009-01-29)
Stable release v5.1 / 23 August 2012 (2012-08-23)
Website soundhound.com

SoundHound (known as Midomi until December 2009) is a mobile device service that allows users to identify music by humming, singing or playing a recorded track. The service was launched by Melodis Corporation (now SoundHound Inc), under Chief Executive Keyvan Mohajer in 2007 and has received funding from Global Catalyst Partners, TransLink Capital and Walden Venture Capital.

Features

SoundHound is a music search engine available on the Apple App Store,[1] Google Play,[2] Windows Phone Store, and on June 5, 2013, was available on the BlackBerry 10 platform.[3] It enables users to identify music by playing, singing or humming a song.[4] It is also possible to speak or type the name of the artist or song.[4] Unlike competitor Shazam, SoundHound can recognise tracks from singing, humming, speaking typing as well as from a recording.[5] Sound matching is achieved through the company's 'Sound2Sound' technology, which can match even poorly-hummed performances to professional recordings.[6]

The app then returns the lyrics, links to videos on YouTube, links to iTunes, ringtones, the ability to launch Pandora Radio,[7] as well as recommendations for other songs.[8] A feature called LiveLyrics displays a song's lyrics in time with the music, if they are available. Double-tapping on those lyrics moves the music to that point in the song.[9] It is also possible for users to play music from their iPhone's iPod library through the app. If lyrics are available for a song, it will show them as it plays.[4]

There are three versions of the app: SoundHound, SoundHound Infinity and Hound. SoundHound is free but has banner ads, while SoundHound Infinity (styled SoundHound ∞), priced at £4.99 in the UK or $6.99 in the US, is the premium offering and has the same functionality but without banner ads.[10] Hound only allows users to search for artists or songs by speaking into it. Similar to the SoundHound app, Hound then returns a song preview, lyrics, album art and videos as well as artist bios and tour dates.[7]

History

Midomi, renamed SoundHound in December 2009 with the launch of version 3.0 of the mobile app,[4] was launched in beta in January 2007, as a website, with 2 million licensed tracks.[11] The technology, dubbed Multimodal Adaptive Recognition System (MARS), considers pitch, tempo variation, speech content and pauses in order to recognise samples.[11] The company behind the site, Melodis Corporation, was started in 2004 by Chief Executive Keyvan Mohajer, a PhD in sound-recognition from Stanford.[11] Melodis changed its name to SoundHound Inc in May 2010.[12]

The first version of the app was released on the Apple App Store in July 2008.[1] At the launch of Windows Marketplace for Mobile in October 2009, Midomi was one of the apps included in the store[3] and could be purchased for $4.99.[13] It joined the Android app store in June 2010.[2] On January 2013, the BlackBerry version of the SoundHound was now available in BlackBerry World following the announcement and launch of BlackBerry 10.[14]

A free version of the app was released in April 2010, with all the functionality of the premium version, while limiting the number of searches to five per month, and adding banners ads.[10] The premium version was now renamed SoundHound Infinity.[10] A stripped-down version, Hound, was released in May 2011.[7]

In January 2011, Apple revealed that the top paid iPad app of all time on its App Store was SoundHound, while rival Shazam was fourth in the top ten list of free iPhone apps.[15]

In June 2012, SoundHound announced that it had 80 million users while version 5.0 was released, with a new design and features that include an in-built player and integration with LiveLyrics.[16] In December 2013, the app passed 185 million users.[17]

Funding

Melodis secured $7 million in a Series B funding round in October 2008, bringing total funds raised to $12 million. The round was led by TransLink Capital with the participation of JAIC America and Series A investor Global Catalyst Partners.[18]

In 2009, Melodis attracted additional funding from Larry Marcus at Walden Venture Capital, who had previously invested in music startups Pandora and Snocap.[6] The $4 million funding round was led by Walden Venture Capital VII, with the participation of an unnamed device manufacturer.[19]

See also

[20] ==References==

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jackson, Holly (10 July 2008). "Sing for search results with iPhone app". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dolcourt, Jessica (15 June 2010). "New SoundHound names that tune--for free (Android)". CNET. Retrieved 3 October 2012. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dolcourt, Jessica (6 October 2009). "Windows mobile app store, My Phone service officially opening". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Dolcourt, Jessica (3 December 2009). "Midomi 3.0 seeks song lyrics, knows what's hot". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  5. ↑ Dolcourt, Jessica (16 July 2008). "First Look video: Shazam for iPhone". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Needleman, Rafe (28 July 2009). "Midomi music search gets funding and opportunities". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Boyd Myers, Courtney (26 May 2011). "SoundHound’s new voice app "Hound" wants to change the way we search". The Next Web. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  8. ↑ Dolcourt, Jessica (2 March 2011). "SoundHound for iPhone channels iTunes, recommends beats". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  9. ↑ Cabebe, Jaymar (20 July 2011). "SoundHound adds LiveLyrics". CNET. Retrieved 3 October 2012. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Dolcourt, Jessica (27 April 2010). "Sonic freebie: New, free SoundHound music-ID app for iPhone, iPad". CNET. Retrieved 3 October 2012. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Mills, Elinor (26 January 2007). "This Web site can name that tune". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  12. ↑ "SoundHound Inc. Announces Name Change from Melodis Corporation" (Press release). SoundHound Inc. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  13. ↑ Dolcourt, Jessica (7 October 2009). "Shazam debuts in Windows Marketplace for Mobile". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  14. ↑ "BlackBerry shows off some of its 70,000 new third-party apps, including Skype, Rdio, Kindle, and Whatsapp". The Verge. Retrieved 2013-01-30. 
  15. ↑ Reisinger, Don (19 January 2011). "Apple reveals top apps of all time". CNET. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  16. ↑ Sawers, Paul (7 June 2012). "Shazam competitor SoundHound passes 80m users and rolls out updated mobile apps". The Next Web. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  17. ↑ "SoundHound Reveals Its Top Songs of 2013". The Next Web. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2013. 
  18. ↑ "Search and Sound Recognition Innovator MELODIS and Creator of Midomi Raises $7 Million in Series B Funding" (Press release). Melodis Corporation. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  19. ↑ "Melodis, Sound Search Technology and Applications Innovator, Raises $4M Led by Walden Venture Capital and a Strategic Investor" (Press release). Melodis Corporation. 4 August 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2012. 
  20. ↑ Brian, Matt. "Hyundai and Kia tap SoundHound to help you identify music in your car". Jan 13th, 2014. engadget. Retrieved 6 February 2014. 

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