Apple close to purchasing Shazam for estimated $400 million
Apple has reportedly been close to acquiring the music recognition service, Shazam with a formal announcement coming as early as Monday.
Apple is reportedly close to purchasing Shazam for a reported $400m
According to an anoymous source to TechCrunch, the deal is reportedly worth around $400m, far less than the valuation of more than $1bn Shazam announced after its most recent round of funding in 2015.
Shazam had already maintained a long-standing relationship with Apple—in 2008, it was one of the first apps to be featured on Apple's App Store. Shazam allowed users to click through to iTunes to purchase, and it's features had also been integrated with Apple’s Siri voice assistant.
Once known as just a music-identification service via SMS, Shazam has evolved to let users identify and share audio, TV shows, and augmented-reality content. This acquisition has the potential to disrupt the relationship Shazam has with other music streaming services. Shazam currently allowed users to connect the music and content they discover to Spotify, Google Music, YouTube and Deezer.
Shazam's capabilities allowed it to leverage unique brand partnerships, including an interactive music video experience with beauty brand Clinique, and helping KFC in Australia activate 7 million pieces of packaging to drive awareness for cricket.