[5][6] His father is British and his mother is French, which he cites as giving him both the interest in living in the UK and the passport to do so;[7] his parents also set up a nuclear physics consultancy, which he credits as inspiration for his choice of an entrepreneurial career.
[11][12][13] Barton located the company in London, based on the UK being the world-leading country (at the time) as measured by per-capita music purchases.
[15] As CEO, Barton raised $7.5 million in venture capital[16] and secured initial distribution partnerships with the four leading mobile operators in the UK, enabling Shazam to commercially launch in 2002.
[24] From 2004 until 2016, Barton held roles at Google and Dropbox, focusing on areas such as Android business development and establishing partnerships with mobile operators.
[25][29] In 2018, he founded Guard Inc., a startup that employs artificial intelligence technology to prevent drowning incidents in swimming pools.
[17][31] Barton appeared in a Super Bowl television advertisement in 2012 for Best Buy, alongside Ray Kurzweil and Kevin Systrom, the founder of Instagram.