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The Light Watkins Show

198: Shazam Co-Founder, Chris Barton on Building a $400-Million Tech Giant with Passion and Perseverance

The Light Watkins Show

Light Watkins

Self-improvement, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Education

4.9960 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2024

⏱️ 75 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of The Light Watkins Show, we dive into the inspiring journey of Chris Barton, the mastermind behind Shazam. Chris’ story is one of determination, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of a dream amidst adversity. Shazam, now a household name, was once just a bold idea: identifying songs in mere seconds using just a snippet of music. This concept faced skepticism, technological hurdles, and financial crises, challenging Barton and his team's resolve.Chris shares the genesis o...

Transcript

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0:00.0

There was no solution to learn about music if you just heard it, which is the most logical thing, right?

0:08.0

Because you go through life hearing music in different places, but there was really no way to then find out what it was.

0:13.3

Most of the time, unless it was a really famous song,

0:16.1

obviously it's a really famous, your friends know what it did,

0:18.1

and they all go, oh yeah, that's co-play or whatever.

0:20.1

So then you just knew.

0:21.3

But for that really long tale of all that music that was not like the mainstream big hits.

0:26.8

Most people would not know what it was since they were therefore you couldn't find out what it was and you couldn't do anything about it.

0:31.3

And so I think we all share this vision

0:33.7

of we're gonna solve that because everyone carries

0:35.6

a mobile phone with them everywhere they go.

0:37.5

And so now they're gonna build to get the answer.

0:39.2

We're gonna change the way they discover music.

0:48.0

Hey friend, welcome back to the Light Watkins show. I'm Light Watkins and I have conversations with ordinary folks just like you and me who've taken extraordinary leaps of faith in the direction of their path, their purpose, or what they've identified as their mission in life.

1:01.0

And in doing so, they've been able to positively impact and inspire the lives of many

1:06.2

other people who've either heard about their story or people who've witnessed them in action or people

1:11.3

who've directly benefited from their work. The goal is to expose you to as many people as possible who found their path and to humanize them. And after hearing story after story, eventually, eventually you give yourself permission to move further in the direction of what feels like your path and your purpose because what you'll see is that anyone who does that has had to overcome many of the same obstacles that you might

1:34.4

be dealing with right now. And before I tell you about today's guest, I just have a quick question

1:40.1

for you. Have you ever been out to a restaurant or to a store and you hear a song come on

1:47.0

over the sound system and you think to yourself wow I love that song I wish I knew

1:52.2

who sang it.

1:53.4

Well, there's a solution for that these days.

...

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