Apple announces acquisition of Shazam

After months of deliberation, Apple announced that its purchase of Shazam has finally been completed, bringing the music-finding app under Apple’s broad umbrella.

The very first change that Apple will make to the app is to phase out the in-app advertising, making it completely free to use.

Thrn, it is not entirely clear how, and if at all, Apple will make any changes to how Shazam works to tweak its core operability. It is quite possible that Apple may leave it as a standalone product, though it is hard to see how they will monetize it if it remains ad-free. The other option is to integrate it into Apple Music, which will make discovery and access to new music much simpler.

According to the latest numbers, Shazam has been downloaded over 1 billion times, and is available on iOS as well as Android. This acquisition gives Apple another app on the Android platform. Apple Music is currently one of the few apps that Apple has for the Android platform.

Apple’s purchase of Shazam is the latest acquisition for the world’s largest tech company. First launched in 2002, Shazam has grown significantly over the last several years. Once specifically devoted to music recognition, Shazam now accepts audio and visual clips to identify songs, movies, and television shows. The service is the oldest of its kind and competes with Soundhound and Musixmatch.

A big part of the reason the European Commission cleared the acquisition is that Apple and Shazam largely offer complementary services, rather than services that compete with each other. While the acquisition price has not been publicly announced, Apple reportedly paid around $400 million for the company. This estimate falls far below Shazam’s $1 billion valuation from its last funding round in 2015. The discrepancy is likely due to Shazam’s struggle to become profitable.