Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple May Acquire Music Recognition Service Shazam
Apple may be planning to acquire music recognition service Shazam, reports TechCrunch, which would be one of the most high-profile acquisitions Apple has made since it purchased Beats in 2014.
Shazam is a well-known music service that uses machine learning techniques to identify short audio clips from songs, television shows, and more. Shazam operates a standalone app for iOS, macOS, and watchOS, but also has a close relationship with Apple.
Since iOS 8, Shazam has been integrated into Siri, and it's what powers the feature that lets Siri identify songs that are playing aloud. If, for example, there's a specific song on television and you ask Siri "What song is this?" Siri uses Shazam to identify it.
Shazam is integrated with Apple Music, and Apple Music subscribers who Shazam a song can then tap to play it directly in Apple Music and can add it to a Shazam playlist. Shazam also has an augmented reality feature that allows you to find content based on pictures captured with the Shazam app.
One of TechCrunch's sources said the deal could be worth nine figures, while another says Apple may shell out somewhere around $401 million. Both numbers are lower than the $1.02 billion valuation Shazam received during its last funding round in 2015.
Apple and Shazam could sign a deal as soon as this week, with an announcement planned for Monday.
Shazam is a well-known music service that uses machine learning techniques to identify short audio clips from songs, television shows, and more. Shazam operates a standalone app for iOS, macOS, and watchOS, but also has a close relationship with Apple.
Since iOS 8, Shazam has been integrated into Siri, and it's what powers the feature that lets Siri identify songs that are playing aloud. If, for example, there's a specific song on television and you ask Siri "What song is this?" Siri uses Shazam to identify it.
Shazam is integrated with Apple Music, and Apple Music subscribers who Shazam a song can then tap to play it directly in Apple Music and can add it to a Shazam playlist. Shazam also has an augmented reality feature that allows you to find content based on pictures captured with the Shazam app.
One of TechCrunch's sources said the deal could be worth nine figures, while another says Apple may shell out somewhere around $401 million. Both numbers are lower than the $1.02 billion valuation Shazam received during its last funding round in 2015.
Apple and Shazam could sign a deal as soon as this week, with an announcement planned for Monday.
Tags: techcrunch.com, Shazam
[ 117 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
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18 months ago
Oh man cue Google fan heads exploding
Google Assistant has been able to identify songs for a long time and better than Shazam. Aside from Google's great accuracy, even in noisy environments, the best part is that you don't have to make the request through the worst voice assistant on the market:. Siri.
18 months ago
Surprised at the positive comments on this one. I’ve always thought Shazam was a joke for an app. I downloaded it years ago when people thought it was kind of neat how accurate it was. I have NEVER needed such a service. If I don’t know a song, 9/10 it isn’t playing at the moment (It’s just stuck in my head).
Regardless of whether it’s in my head or playing on the mall music list, just google a line from the song and you will have it just as fast as opening up the app etc.
IMHO this would be a complete waste of money to have what is truly a gimmick (and people on this site throw that phrase around a lot).
Gimmick: (n) a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.
There are millions of people who use it and find it quite useful.
18 months ago
While a neat service I don’t see neat being worth half a billion let alone a billion dollars. I would think given their size, wealth, and expertise Apple could just build their own service. Is the brand really worth that much?
You're kidding me, right?
Apple can barely manage the software projects its has now, let alone rewrite Shazam from scratch!
18 months ago
It is a useful feature but it's not a billion dollar feature.
It might be for their tech that can allow Siri to identify speech and other phrases better to better understand what people are asking if Shazzam can identify music and TV shows better than other services
18 months ago
I know some will say it’s Apple’s best purchase ever, but I don’t think they would say that if they were thinking with a clear head.
Apple's best purchase ever was NeXT. All has been, always will be.
18 months ago
Surprised at the positive comments on this one. I’ve always thought Shazam was a joke for an app. I downloaded it years ago when people thought it was kind of neat how accurate it was. I have NEVER needed such a service.
Cool story, bro.
I for one find it useful.
Regardless of whether it’s in my head or playing on the mall music list, just google a line from the song and you will have it just as fast as opening up the app etc.
That's great when I know a line.
Or, scratch that, even then it isn't great. Because launching the app and tapping the big fat button is even greater.
IMHO this would be a complete waste of money to have what is truly a gimmick (and people on this site throw that phrase around a lot).
Gimmick: (n) a trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business.
Functionality (n): something not everyone may benefit from, not diminishing its usefulness.
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A MUCH MUCH MUCH wiser decision than buying Beats!!!
Beats is one of the worst deal ever happened in company purchasing history.
Beats gave them the second-biggest music streaming service*, healthy revenues from a popular headphone brand, and expertise and standing in negotiating with the music industry.
Pretty good deal, it seems.
*) And the biggest isn't doing so hot financially.
18 months ago
This would be awesome, and might allow Apple to bake it into iOS. You could set Shazam to listen all the time and display a song title without having to activate it--ala the Pixel.
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