There is no denying that music recognition apps are in nowadays. UK-based company Shazam is living proof. Being the pioneer in this type of technology, Shazam has managed to be one of the leading companies of its kind, with 150 million users and almost a million new users every week.

Shazam already has a number of strong competitors like Soundhound, Gracenote and Audible Magic. However, Shazam may face a legitimate contender in newcomer, Echoprint. Powered by The Echo Nest, Echoprint is the first open-source music ID app. Echoprint may have the same services as Shazam, but what makes Echoprint special is that it is open source and has a cloud-based back end. The Echo Nest has partnered with 7digital and Musicbainz.

Brian Whitman, co-founder and CTO of The Echo Nest points out, “Music fingerprinting should belong to the Internet. It should be a service that every developer can rely on without worrying about licensing fees or complicated database implementations. The Echo Nest is uniquely positioned to open its best-in-class fingerprinting technology and music resolution data to the public. Any music experience, from a streaming cloud service to a social music game can now immediately include music recognition. We’re giving people the client and server along with the data, and we can’t wait to see what they build with this.”

Will Echoprint outdo Shazam? That is yet to be seen. But, Shazam has already taken the necessary steps by raising $32 million to broaden their services. They will be using the same technology which enables users to tag TV shows and commercials. The concept is still in its formative stage and they are still looking out for new partners. In an interview from Tech Crunch TV, Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher expressed, “that is a different market opportunity for us entirely because the TV market in the North America alone is worth over $60 billion”.

There is no telling on how the industry will be in the next couple of years. But, it’s definitely stiff competition.