Apple confirmed that it has acquired music discovery service Shazam. TechCrunch was the first to report that the deal was in the works. Shazam allows users to identify songs, TV shows, movies, and even commercials by playing brief audio clips. According to Recode, Apple is paying $400 million for the company. For Shazam, that valuation is no doubt a bit of a letdown: During its most recent funding round, the company was valued at $1 billion. But Shazam has struggled to find a workable business model; the company took in only $54 million in revenue last year. It remains to be seen what Apple will do with the service. It’s entirely possible that it will shutter the Shazam app entirely, choosing instead to integrate the app’s technology into Apple Music, iOS devices, and other platforms. Such a decision would also hurt competitor Spotify, which garners referral traffic from Shazam.
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