Shazam shows you the music artists are discovering

The ability to follow your favorite music artists on Shazam isn’t new, but that feature is now getting a huge boost. Starting today, the service will let you see how entertainers are using Shazam to discover tunes, too. Because famous people — they’re just like us. With the refreshed iOS and Android apps, you’ll start seeing the option to follow hundreds of artists, including Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull and Shakira, and view the music any of them are identifying through Shazam. Better yet, you can listen to these songs directly from the application. Don’t expect artists to make everything they try to recognize public, though, since there is an option to keep guilty pleasures (or blunders) private.

“What we learned is that artists themselves are discovering things with Shazam,” says Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker about the company’s new feature. “We wanted to turn this [feature] into an ongoing relationship between the user and the artist.” At launch, participating artists are only able to share music content with their followers. But Danker adds that, in the future, this functionality may expand to other Shazam-ready items — like books, movie posters, magazines and more.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Mobile

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Android 5.1 update now rolling out to Verizon Moto X (2nd gen)

HTC is not the only one bringing Android 5.1 to its US carrier-specific devices. Motorola is also getting in on the action as Verizon announces the latest Moto X (2nd gen) software is ready to begin rolling out to smartphones across the USA.

This news comes only a few days after said device was starting to get Android 5.1 soak tests. It didn’t take Big Red and Motorola much longer to get it all worked out, obviously. This update takes the software to version 23.16.3, which brings forth a series of improvements that will definitely be welcomed by users across the USA. This is an important Lollipop update, after all – one we have all been waiting for.

Without further ado, let’s tell you what this OTA update brings to the table.

Improvements

Android 5.1 offers some great interface modifications. For starters, the volume settings icons have been replaced with ones that better match those in the notification area. Added pull-down controls for WiFi and Bluetooth connections have also been added.

In addition, Interruption controls have now been integrated, allowing users to easily modify notifications for specific contacts. Other improvements include notification volume controls and better factory reset protection. You can go ahead and read the documentation below to catch all the details.

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Wrapping up

Sadly, people won’t exactly be getting everything they were hoping for. HD Voice and Voice Over LTE are a couple very requested features that didn’t make it to this software version, but they may come at a later date. For now, all users can do is wait around and see when the update shows up.

This documentation is not exactly proof the update is rolling out as we speak, but it usually takes very little time for Verizon to release these updates after they publish them. Do keep in mind these roll out periodically, too, so not everyone will get the upgrade as soon as it is released. Try not to smash the screen trying to check for updates every few seconds; the update will come!

Do hit the comments to let us know what you are thinking of this OTA update. Are you satisfied? Where you hoping for more? Also, have any of you actually gotten the update yet?