Shazam has been acquired by Apple

Apple recently confirmed that it had acquired music-identifying app Shazam. In a statement, Apple said that Shazam and Apple Music are naturally compatible, and there are fascinating plans in store. Apple did not reveal the acquisition amount, although TechCrunch reports that the agreement was in the range of USD 400 million (~RM1.63 billion). Snapchat and Spotify were also reportedly in talks with Shazam previously.

Succinctly, Shazam matches a clip of music that is currently playing against its vast database to tell listeners who and what they’re listening to. Shazam has fused this with other services, directing users to sites to download the music they have discovered, offer more insight about the artists behind the tunes, and also has popular music charts based on the clips the app collects.

Shazam has also partnered up with Spotify, that gets around a million referrals monthly, as well as Snapchat – where users can identify tracks, interact with Shazam content and share their musical findings as Snaps to friends. However, Snapchat was experiencing a flux in the stock market and wasn’t providing a concrete acquisition amount to Shazam, so that could be why the deal between both parties didn’t fall through.

Currently, Shazam already integrates with Apple Music, letting its users play tracks on its app as well as letting users purchase the tracks straight from iTunes.