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Katie McMahon
July 7, 2015
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And you thought digital platforms were the cutting edge... Enter SoundHound Inc., a high tech company that's moving well ahead of the curve in voice-activated mobile technology - and applying it to radio. With Soundhound for Radio (run in conjunction with Westwood One), Hound and now Houndify, "traditional" radio digital platforms and "texting-to-win" contests seem as antiquated as eight-tracks. VP/GM Katie McMahon offers you a peek into radio's mobile future.
What were you doing before SoundHound? What intrigued you about the company to join?
I first got interested in the mobile industry when the Internet was just taking off in Silicon Valley. I made a decision to go to Japan to work in the world's most advanced mobile technology because I believed the next major wave was going to be mobile; that experience was as invaluable. From there, I moved to London to join a very small start-up that had intriguing technology; it was called Shazam. I spent nearly six years building up Shazam's mobile business and brand, and launched it on iPhone to huge success. At that point, it was exciting to see the adoption of this new user behavior, as capturing sound (on mobile) was on its way to become a global user habit.
What intrigued me about SoundHound Inc., the company, was its vision to transform how we interact with connected devices, and more importantly, the founding team's technology prowess. I looked ahead to the next decade and beyond, and I could see that speaking to a computer, a mobile phone, your car or even a refrigerator would ultimately happen, and this could be the company to make that reality. I wanted to be a major contributor in the next massive user behavior shift. Take a look back: In 2000, you used a phone just to speak into. In 2002 people began snapping photos with their phones. In 2007-8, the concept of using a hand-held mobile speaker to capture music and learn the song and artist, (instead of grabbing pen and paper waiting for the radio DJ to provide that information) became a reality. Now we're going into an era where people hold that device, speak into microphone components, not even cognizant of where the mics are embedded, expecting to get information or action an assistant command. The physical user behavior shift of using your voice instead of typing or tapping on touch screens is the next most profound user behavior shift in the mobile computing era.
Please describe exactly what SoundHound does ...
The simplest way to say it is that SoundHound Inc.'s products turn sound into understanding and actionable meaning. For example, the SoundHound music app does more than music identification of songs you hear on radio, in cafes, on TV; it can also do "sing/hum search" in the case when you have a song stuck in your head -- where you don't know the artist's name or even a fragment of the lyrics, so you cannot Google search it, but if you sing or hum a few notes, SoundHound can tell you what it is. That's novel and a non-trivial technical feat, taking gobbledygook in the brain and turning it into meaning by returning the name of the song, and giving you the ability to hear the track, see the lyrics, cover art, to share it onward, etc. That specific technology is just one example of the level of sophisticated technology creation that happens in-house.
More recently, we pulled the curtain back after nine years of research development to let the world see that we created the next generation of voice interface technology, through the creations of the first speech-to-meaning engine. We have launched a new voice search, assistant and entertainment app called Hound. Most voice technology out there uses something called speech-to-text technology and then layers on an attempt to understand what the users is really saying or asking for. We are able to combine the ability to do voice recognition and, at the same time, do sophisticated natural language processing, which results in speed and accuracy for the end user. Moreover, Hound can handle complex sentences and specific criteria. For example, you can search for a hotel by simply speaking your requirements, such as "show hotels in New York that have a gym, pool, free Wi-Fi and that costs less than $300 per night." Enabling the user to speak naturally is the key and we have cracked that code with Hound.
You've created a SoundHound version for the radio industry. Is it being accepted right away? How much of a selling job are you doing to make this an industry standard?
SoundHound for Radio is a platform that we're running in conjunction with our partners at Westwood One, who are the radio industry experts. It leverages our existing SoundHound music app, and their sales team works with local radio so the individual station doesn't need to build an app to push to people, or build out new technology. Using our app, they can piggyback off a footprint of 265 million total users globally.
We bring to the table three things: 1) a robust install userbase 2) an ingrained user behavior (mobile music recognition off radio) and 3) new, asynchronous content recognition technology that enables matching the specific local radio station. Listeners can SoundHound a song -- push the orange SoundHound button and get a song name, artist name and information - as well as the station's Talk radio, commercial and other non-music track content. Traditionally, you would get a "no result" if you SoundHound'ed during commercial breaks. Now, the SoundHound for Radio content recognition system can determine the broadcasting station, and, in turn, we send a result page that corresponds to that specific local station. By implementing SoundHound for Radio, the station can easily put a coupon, a contest, or any exclusive content into our system so the user can simply "SoundHound" for tickets to a local concert, for example, or a coupon for free pizza versus having to call a phone number or remember a specific web address to view later. It's instant, seamless, and fun.
In short, we have made radio clickable. This is a transformative moment that brings terrestrial radio into the mobile digital era.
Another way to look at it is to see what the radio industry has gone though in the past decade. Internet radio streaming became the rage because digital can measure eyeballs through impression counts. That's key for transparency -- and advertiser dollars. They like that it is measurable. We can apply that transparency to the traditional broadcasting industry. Traditional radio is still incredibly important in that it reaches 240 million people every week; compare that to social media and you realize that we should not overlook traditional radio. SoundHound Inc. believes that radio, as a medium, is undervalued, and that we can play a special part in the ecosystem because of our position and technology on mobile devices.
How are listeners alerted to this platform? Does the station do it or do you?
The local stations that implement SoundHound for Radio alert their listeners by a simple call-to-action to, for example, "SoundHound our show at any time today to register for a chance to win tickets..." This increases user engagement for radio stations because they are able to finally reach the end user and do so on that listener's most personal device -- their mobile phone. Most stations never even know exactly who interacts with contests; with SoundHound to Radio, stations get immediate feedback from listeners. It is an easy, automatic and great way to increase engagement and audience interaction.
Are radio stations concerned that SoundHound might distract their listeners from their own apps, websites and digital platforms?
That argument goes through their minds, but when they realize the expense and effort to build their own mobile apps and gain a user base that would be only a fraction of what we bring to the table, they actually see that this is a path to an order of magnitude more valuable to engagement. Station attribution and one-tap access to their website is also shown within result pages on SoundHound, which is a massive win for the station. We don't cut out access to the station; we send them users.
We're amplifying the radio listeners' ability to get to where the station wants them. Up to this point, for all intents and purposes, the station only had their ears. SoundHound can now bring station listeners' eyeballs and fingertips.
It's well-known that listeners have an aversion to commercials (spots). By offering coupons and the like, isn't SoundHound adding to the clutter visually?
It's not so much clutter; it's about the user experience, which is what we have found over the last two years where SoundHound to Radio has been deployed on a national level through Westwood One. The results have shown that users are happy to participate in the direct marketing calls to action such as "click now to win tickets," or to unlock exclusive, meaningful content. Before, they weren't inclined to remember a phone number at a specific time and then hope they're caller #10. SoundHound makes it so easy to enter and play contests or capture a coupon that it elevates the user experience. And it behooves every part of the ecosystem to be increasingly value-add. The radio station needs to add value through exclusive content and contests that are meaningful to the user.
Have you tested SoundHound on Radio listeners? What was their feedback? Did you make any tweaks?
Yes, and the listeners' responsiveness is what drove SoundHound for Radio from pilot program to full commercial deployment on the national level with Westwood One stations over two years ago. Now it's a matter of local stations adopting the platform, which has just been announced. Westwood One will be bringing it to local stations and clusters of stations in a simple package that is easy to implement. I believe that as the number of stations ramp in, implementing our platform, it will be shown as a no-brainer: every station will need to be "clickable," as SoundHound for Radio becomes an industry must-have.
Being tied in with Westwood One, you probably already have Cumulus on board. What about its direct major group rivals, iHeartMedia and CBS?
We have gotten a very positive response from all the major players, which again goes back to the reasons outlined earlier: SoundHound brings to the table an install base and a new asynchronous technology platform that identifies users and directly credits the station. The hardest problem for stations is knowing their own value, quantifying engagement. Now we can increase and account for engagement.
We can give to broadcast radio directly a tool akin to what Pandora can provide advertisers about audience measurements, where they reached, for instance, 10 million people with an ad that got clicked on 1.8% of the time. Metrics like that are key; that's been missing in traditional radio ... and that's exactly what SoundHound for Radio, the platform, provides. You're really increasing engagement and empowering them in Digital.
What future applications do you see for this?
The implication of what we've done in being able to identify in real-time broadcast is unlimited. Think of the events that happen in real-time: the Super Bowl, World Cup, the Olympics, political conventions ... It can be very interesting. We focused on radio first, however, because it has been underserved from a tech and mobile perspective. To make radio clickable is transformative on an engagement level for the user and on a monetization level for the industry.
What we're talking about in regards to SoundHound for Radio is leveraging the massively popular SoundHound music app with its install base and our advanced, in-house built technologies, so that the listener and station have one-tap connection.
Separately, we recently released a new app called Hound, a voice search and assistant app in which you speak your searches. This is not music- or radio-specific. Hound can recognize naturally spoken queries and respond quickly and accurately to, for example, weather searches, hotel searches, navigation, as well as compose and send text messages, and all hands-free.
At SoundHound Inc., we have a major focus around enabling people to speak naturally in to their mobile, and no longer relay on endless types or tapping. Voice recognition has been around for 30 years and it's extraordinarily complicated to get right. Another technology key to making this movement work is native language processing, which interprets what you mean. We have created new technology that combines both. Moreover, we've built this in a way that programmers and developers can build natural voice interfaces into their products by leveraging our voice platform, which is called Houndify. This scales. We won't directly be the company to put voice interfaces into cars, coffee machines, hospitals, TVs of the future, but we will be the company that provides the backend technology powering the, in essence, 'Houndification' of the Internet of Things.
This goes back to your first question about why I joined SoundHound Inc. Ultimately, it's a very special company that has been able to create unique technologies, productize them, and build a business, and that requires scientists, engineers and user-experience designers, product thinkers, with the marketing and business people all under one roof to bring forward new user behaviors.
Last decade, the profound user behavior shift was typing key words into a search engine and getting information at our fingertips. Now, with the proliferation of smartphones, we are going to shift users into expecting fast, accurate and delightful results when you speak naturally, like you would to a friend or a hotel concierge, which eliminates the time and frustration required to type, tap, and filter on small screens. You will simply Hound for it.
So, there you have it, that's what we are doing at SoundHound Inc., turning sound in to meaning, on many levels and always with end-user delight as a goal. We have done it and continue to grow one of the most successful mobile apps, SoundHound; we're doing it across radio with SoundHound for Radio, and, now with Hound and Houndify, on a very profound and far-reaching level.
Notes:
The Hound app is currently available as a private beta on Android with iOS coming soon. See www.soundhound.com/hound
The Houndify platform is available as invite-only ahead of public release later this year. See www.soundhound.com/houndify
The SoundHound music app is available on all major app stores. See www.soundhound.com/soundhound
SoundHound for Radio information: Stations interested in learning more about SoundHound for Radio can contact Todd Alan at TAlan@WestwoodOne.com or (212) 735-1107.
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