Apple is reportedly set to acquire Shazam Entertainment Ltd, the makers of the music recognition app that allows users to identify songs, television shows or films.
Sources familiar with the situation told TechCrunch that the acquisition could be priced at around $400 million, and it could be announced as early as this week.
Although the Shazam app has been downloaded over a billion times as of September of last year, its high numbers have not always translated into profit. The company suffered losses in the fiscal years of 2014 and 2015 but managed to turn it around in 2016.
Currently, the Shazam smartphone app already features tight integration with Apple's software assistant Siri. If Shazam is installed on a user's iPhone, he or she can ask Siri what the name of the song is. The phone will use the Shazam app to identify the sound bite.
If the acquisition gets finalized, Apple may be looking to integrate Shazam's features into its operating system, iOS.
Neither Apple nor Shazam has commented on the reports of the acquisition. Should it push through, the acquisition of Shazam could bolster Apple's music-related efforts. It could aid the company's music streaming service Apple Music in its ongoing battle against Spotify for dominance in the field.
In 2014, Apple also acquired Beats in a huge $3 billion deal. Beats eventually became the basis for Apple Music. Since its launch, Apple Music has gotten around 30 million subscribers. In comparison, Spotify has over 60 million paying users and 140 million users overall.
Shazam was first launched in 1999, well before the days of smartphones and apps. It was originally an SMS-based service, which was reflected in its original name, 2580, which is the number that is used to access the service in the United Kingdom.
For a while, Shazam's music identification technology was a novel idea. However, as smartphone technology moved forward, it became relatively easy for others to replicate the service.
