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Music

Apple Has Reportedly Bought Shazam

The deal is rumoured to be worth $400 million.
Photo by Simon Dawson for Bloomberg via Getty Images

Apple is buying Shazam, the app that's still the best way to learn identities of songs you can't put your finger on. TechCrunch first reported early details of the acquisition last week, but the news was confirmed by Apple to the Verge. Recode says that the deal is worth $400 million, which, according to the Verge report, is much less than the $1 billion that Shazam was last valued at.

Both Apple and Shazam provided statements to the Verge, which you can find below starting with Apple's:

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“We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple,” an Apple spokesperson told The Verge. "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."

And from Shazam:

“We are excited to announce that Shazam has entered into an agreement to become part of Apple,” Shazam said in a statement to The Verge. “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.”

No further plans have been shared and the deal is still pending approval, although there's probably a good chance Apple with fold Shazam's song recognition technology into themselves to improve their streaming app. The Verge also points out that Shazam has been struggling with revenues in recent years, making $54 million in 2016. You can find the rest of the report here.

Phil is on Twitter.