Shazam, the app that recognizes acoustic fingerprints based upon audio samples has been acquired by Apple. The technological acquisition is rumored to be in the range of $400 million dollars.
Following its 2015 venture capital funding round, Shazam amassed a net worth of one billion dollars. With the fusion of Apple and Shazam, the ability to link unlabeled pieces of audio content to corresponding metadata becomes an exclusive feature of iOS software.
This merger emphasizes Apple’s desire to outlast its competition. Currently, Spotify has four times the amount of subscribers than Apple Music.
Until this point, Shazam received funds through commission based efforts that referred customers to either Spotify or Apple Music upon song identification.
More than one billion people have downloaded Shazam and its user base hosts over 120 million people. Thus, Apple hopes to bolster its music business to drive sales and subscriptions.
The two key features that Apple incorporates from Shazam are massive vaults of data and a “Visual” feature that incorporates visual recognition technology via augmented reality.
The major investment lies within the staggering amount of data related to trends, feedback and real world results.
“Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.” (Tom Neumayr)
FreshNewsNow 