Shazam picks its Grammy winners

Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd would be shoo-ins for Grammy Awards -- if voting was based on Shazams.

If the number of Shazams an artist got were the determining factor, Sheeran would win Record of the Year and Pop Solo Performance awards when the Grammys are given out Monday, according to the folks behind the music app.

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"With the Grammy telecast around the corner, we thought it would be interesting to determine who would win, if winners were based on U.S. Shazam activity," said James A. Pearson, vice president of global communications for Shazam.

One of the original smartphone offerings in Apple's App Store in 2008, Shazam identifies a piece of music playing on a radio, TV or on a sound system. Users can discover music -- or tag favorites that are playing -- by simply holding their device near the music and tapping the Shazam button in the app. The app diagnoses the track's digital fingerprint for a match in its 35 million-track database, then displays the title, artist and album.

Here's some more Shazam winners from the Grammy categories:

In addition to listening to music and identifying the song and artist, Shazam also posts songs that musicians such as Sheeran listen to. You can also watch videos and buy tracks via the app.

More live TV events, such as the Grammys and Super Bowl, are incorporating Shazam-able commercials and music into the TV broadcast. "This is how we organically add millions of users monthly," Pearson said. "Fans are driving a deeper engagement with the artists and advertisers throughout every part of televised events powered by Shazam."

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