Mobile discovery firm Shazam has announced a major update to its Shazam app for Android which brings with it two new features: unlimited tagging sponsored by eBay for all Shazamers using the free Shazam app, and Shazam Friends, a real-time feed within the app of songs that Facebook friends have tagged, creating a continuously updating list for Shazamers to discover and share new music with their friends.
This is the first exclusive app sponsorship deal agreed by eBay anywhere in the world, and the first time Shazam has selected a partner to provide free services to its customers.

“eBay is a brand people know and love, and we’re excited to announce them as our exclusive sponsor, bringing all Android Shazamers the benefit of unlimited music discovery,” says Alex Musil, executive vice president of product marketing at Shazam. “In addition, we’re pleased to offer Android Shazamers access to the Shazam Friends social feature, allowing them to share their music discoveries with their Facebook friends and family, while discovering exciting new music and content themselves in a continuously updating feed.”

This update of the free Shazam app, which usually comes with five tags per month, will enable new and existing users to receive free unlimited Shazaming until 1 January, 2012.

Shazam Friends is easy to set up and, upon updating the App, a new ‘Friends’ tab will appear. Once a Shazamer logs into their Facebook account and confirms they would like to connect and share with friends, they can:

• Browse all of their friends’ tags, watch music videos, read reviews, access biographies and get artist tour information
• See all recent tags from a particular friend in one list
• Add friends’ tags to their Shazam tag list
• Buy the track
• Where available, use streaming services to play the song from their playlist
• Post tags to Facebook and Twitter, add comments, and give their friends a chance to comment
• Encourage friends to join them in using Shazam Friends

Shazam Friends is already available in both the free Shazam app and the Shazam Encore version on iOS and now, Android devices. Shazamers can manage the sharing of their tags and decide to stop sharing at any time, while still being able to see their friends’ tags. For two friends to see each other’s tags, they both have to connect their Facebook accounts to Shazam.