Apple Acquires Music Recognition App Shazam
Apple confirmed Monday that it is in the final stages of acquiring music recognition app Shazam.
“Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users,” Apple said an statement. “We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”
Apple Music’s future plans for the hit-predicting Shazam are unclear; Shazam searches currently funnel users to either purchase the searched song on Apple’s iTunes or stream it on Apple Music. Apple’s Siri also previously utilized Shazam in order to identify music upon request.
In November, Shazam reported that the app has 175 million active monthly users, 20 million of which are in the U.S., Bloomberg reported, adding that despite the app’s popularity, it had difficulty finding ways to monetize as a standalone product; a method of Shazam-ing during the 2014 Super Bowl only resulted in 700,000 searches.
Apple added in its statement, “Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms.”
The Shazam acquisition is one of Apple’s most notable since the electronics giant purchased Beats Music in 2014 for $3 billion, which laid the groundwork for Apple Music.