Apple Is Buying Shazam

UPDATE 12/eleven: Apple has confirmed the acquisition to PCMag, providing the post-obit official statement:

"We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as i of the nigh popular apps for iOS. Today, information technology'due south used by hundreds of millions of people effectually the earth, across multiple platforms. Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. Nosotros have exciting plans in store, and nosotros look forwards to combining with Shazam upon approval of today's agreement."

ORIGINAL STORY 12/eight:

Apple tree is making another big play to bolster its music services with the acquisition of Shazam. Co-ordinate to TechCrunch, Apple is nearing an agreement to buy the pop music-recognition app in a 9-figure deal that could be valued around $400 meg.

Shazam is a veteran of the first dotcom nail, dating dorsum to 1999. Its costless apps can identify an creative person or song with a tap and a few seconds of listening, but in recent years the app has expanded into recognition of movies and Boob tube shows, ads, and more than to generate relevant search results. At that place'southward also a My Shazam tab in the app to run into a listing of all your songs, integrated direct with Apple services including iTunes and Apple Music, every bit well as Spotify.

Shazam'south Detect tab also helps you build a Spotify-similar taste profile and follow famous people to come across what they're listening to. The company also has a paid, advertizing-gratis version of the app chosen Shazam Encore.

An acquisition would give Apple an app that has more than than a billion downloads (as of September 2022) but has struggled as of late to turn its user numbers into acquirement.

As for what Apple tree might do with Shazam, there are a number of possibilities. Apple's $three billion acquisition of Beats formed the foundation of what is at present Apple Music. Shazam already integrates with Siri, only the acquisition gives Apple a path to deeper personalized recommendations through the virtual assistant integrated with Apple Music. Given Google's contempo announcement of a new YouTube Music service set to launch this coming March, this deal would serve equally a plumbing fixtures response.

Shazam has also experimented with a business-facing augmented reality production for visual brand recognition, which fits nicely as a potential monetization angle for Apple tree'due south ARKit-driven ambitions for smartphone-based AR, which may or may not include AR 3D sensors in future iPhones. For now these potential integration strategies are all speculation, but in that location's one question iOS users may before long be asking a lot more ofttimes: "Hey Siri, what vocal is playing correct at present?"

About Rob Marvin

Rob Marvin

Rob Marvin is PCMag's Associate Features Editor. He writes features, news, and tendency stories on all manner of emerging technologies. Beats include: startups, business organization and venture capital, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI, augmented and virtual reality, IoT and automation, legal cannabis tech, social media, streaming, security, mobile commerce, M&A, and amusement. Rob was previously Assistant Editor and Acquaintance Editor in PCMag's Business organization department. Prior to that, he served as an editor at SD Times. He graduated from Syracuse University'due south S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. You tin also find his business and tech coverage on Entrepreneur and Play a trick on Business. Rob is also an unabashed nerd who does occasional entertainment writing for …