It creates a time series of frequencies then checks a db for that same series. A problem that is easily parallelizable. Probably does some filtering first. It's a very useful and clever application, but not that technically challenging. The most amazing feat is they got access to the catalogs of the record labels.
I wish someone would do the same thing for commercials on TV. Auto detect the commercial and advance the DVR by its exact duration
That's why TIVO (or whichever DVR company) had the skip 30 seconds button. If it was a 60, you hit it twice. However, they also sell 15 second blocks. Now, it's just fast forward at ludicrous speeds.
I wish someone would do the same thing for commercials on TV. Auto detect the commercial and advance the DVR by its exact duration