Music identification app SoundHound debuted the new Pitbull single, “Rain on Me” featuring Marc Anthony on Monday. SoundHound users can find the song atop the “What’s Hot” section of the app.
Released in conjunction with Mr. 305 Records/Polo Grounds Music/J Records/RCA Music Group, the single can be streamed exclusively through the SoundHound mobile app until its wider release Wednesday. “This is a full-length stream of the song,” explains Katie McMahon, vice president, sales and marketing.
Pitbull’s full-length album, “Planet Pit,” will be released June 21.
Premieres such as this allow SoundHound to engage its users while creating a new use for its platform. The company first premiered a track, Secondhand Serenade’s “You and I,” in October. The song was played on average nearly 1.5 times per unique device and users showed a “much higher rate of bookmarking” during the promotion, says McMahon.
The company formed as Melodis in 2005 and changed its name to SoundHound in May 2010. As competition with Shazam was heating up in December, SoundHound eliminated restrictions on the number of times users can identify a song on the free version of its mobile app (previously users could identify up to five songs per month on the free version but an unlimited number of times on the paid version). The company is backed by Global Catalyst Partners, TransLink Capital, Walden Venture Capital and Felicis Ventures.