Apple has confirmed its acquisition of music recognition App Shazam in an effort to increase its music business. Apple has not disclosed the price, but multiple reports suggest that the company has bought the application for $400 million.
Interestingly, this is the first major acquisition after the Cupertino-based giant bought Beats in 2014 for nearly $3 billion. According to a report by TechCrunch, Apple has been in talks with Shazam for about five months to acquire it. The music discovery app was also in talks with Snapchat and Spotify. Apple has not revealed the details of how it is going to use Shazam’s assets after the acquisition.
“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 one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, 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. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement,” the company told the publication.
For the unintended, Shazam is a music recognition application that captures a clip of music that is playing and then matches it against the large database to give details about what you are listening. The brand has also launched a new AR platform in 2015 that allows users to scan books, posters, advertisements and launch 3D animations and even 360-degree videos. Apple might use its music recognition and AR platform to deeply integrate into upcoming AR glasses.
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“We are excited to announce that Shazam has entered into an agreement to become part of Apple. Shazam is one of the highest rated apps in the world and loved by hundreds of millions of users and we can’t imagine a better home for Shazam to enable us to continue innovating and delivering magic for our users,” Shazam said in a statement shared to TechCrunch.