I. Music & Tech

Recognize the Sound of Apple Acquiring Shazam

At the end of last week there were reports about Apple’s “plan” to buy music recognition pioneer Shazam, and yesterday for $400 million the deal was closed. The price tag that was significantly lower than their most recent valuation of $1 billion, is a direct result of Shazam’s challenges trying to create a viable business model. Still, in addition to their audio recognition software, they now control a combined one million daily user referrals to Apple Music and Spotify from Shazam’s platform. Read more about the acquisition here.

Watch and Listen : Youtube’s Paid Music Service

This coming March Youtube plans on launching a paid music service, and entering the music streaming arms race. While the space is currently being led by Apple and Spotify, Amazon is always a serious contender, and Youtube has long been a destination for a significant number of listeners. So much so that the major labels have long been trying to generate a larger royalty revenue from the known video platform. Read about the Youtube’s plans here.

Spotify and Tencent Swap Stake

Spotify and Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) recently took stake in each other’s streaming business. TME is making an undisclosed minority investment through shares as well as purchasing shares from existing investors. Spotify will be making a similar undisclosed minority investment for shares in TME. Read more about the music giants’ diversification here.

No Name Music Sounds Good to Facebook

Facebook’s “Creator App” is one of their many initiatives, and they continue to enhance the experience for content creators. One of the most recent added features is “Sound Collection”. A library of “songs, noises, and vocals” that would not be considered popular or mainstream and would probably be unfamiliar to the majority of users. Still audio is a significant variable of the video experience. Read more about Facebook’s initiative here.

Samsung Device Compatibility w/ Amazon Music

As the battle over music listeners continues, Amazon recently announced that users will be able to access their music service (libraries, playlists, etc..) through Samsung Smart TVs. This is their first third party device offering and yet another sign of the lengths these listening platforms will go to as they look to grow their user bases. Read more about the other device offerings and their plans here.

Apple Ups the Ante on Video

After reports earlier this year confirmed Apple’s plan to spend an estimated $1B on original content it seems that by 2022 they will be more than doubling down on this plan. Late last month it was reported that the sleek device giant plans on spending $4.2 billion by then. A seemingly healthy budget that will only be trumped by a combined projected budget of Amazon and Netflix at $15.1 billion. Read more about the future of video and Apple’s plans to get involved here.

“Vid” Mobbing with VidMob

On November 17th, the world’s largest video creation network and platform, Vidmob, announced a series A raise of $7.5 million. After a stellar year with a tenfold increase in revenue and earning the official marketing badge of both Facebook and Snap, this deal marks the promising future for video. Read more about the company and investment here.

Courtesy of LineForLine. Artists get started here.