Apple has confirmed to BuzzFeed News that last week’s rumor was true: it’s acquiring Shazam, the popular music recognition app that’s used by more than 100 million people each month to identify music, get song lyrics, and more.
Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr has this to say in a statement to BuzzFeed News: “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 price of the acquisition hasn’t confirmed. However, it’s rumored that the deal is for $400 million.
Since iOS 8, Shazam has been integrated into Siri; it powers the ability to let Apple’s personal digital assistant songs that are playing aloud. Also, Shazam is integrated with 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.
In October 2016 Shazam launched a free Shazam for Apple’s Messages app (pictured). Users can “Shazam” and share their results as messages with friends without leaving the messaging screen. With Shazam for iMessage, listeners will be able to discover music playing around them and will be prompted to “Touch to Shazam.”
