CUPERTINO, CA (CelebrityAccess) — Apple has sealed a deal to acquire popular music discovery and identification service Shazam, setting Apple up to officially own one of the first breakthrough apps featured on Apple’s iPhone.
“Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users,” Apple said in an emailed statement on Monday. “We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”
If you’ve never used Shazam before, the advertising-supported app listens to a piece of music with your smartphone or desktop mic and it identifies the artist behind the track.The service debuted in 2002, allowing users to request song identifications via text message, but hit the big time when it debuted on the iPhone.
The full details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Bloomberg reported that a person with knowledge of the deal said the closing price was $400 million, which would make the transaction one of the largest acquisitions in Apple’s history.
In November, Shazam reported that it had about 175 million active users according to research firm App Annie, but the company has struggled to translate that popularity into profits.
It is difficult to say how Apple plans to leverage Shazam’s technology and consumer-facing music discovery website. Currently, when Shazam identifies an artist, it offers links to streamed versions of the track, including Apple’s competitors such as Spotify and Youtube, which might not be a neat fit with Apple’s subscription-based streaming music service.
