How did you get the underlying corpus of audio for all commercially recorded music?
I have the same question. Did you make deals with the major record labels? Did they ship you DVDs (or God forbid CDs) full of songs or something?
Or just collect mp3s? I'm guessing that at least happened while prototyping. And it seems like the most efficient way to make the service work in that era so it wouldn't surprise me if that data got used in production initially while handling licensing concerns separately.
Exactly. Create the product, prove the value, then license properly.
I'm not even sure if using pirated music for this purpose would count as infringement?
How'd y'all monetise back then?
I think it was a premium-rate number you had to call. When it became an app, it eventually had an ad-supported version with a paid, premium version "Shazam Encore" that was ad-free.
Yep, 50p a go from memory. Charged to your phone bill.
I used Shazam in London when it launched. I left the UK in 2003 so I reckon it was literally just as it launched. Presumably I saw billboards or a Wired article or something?