The Guardian reports that Apple has acquired British startup Semetric, the company behind the Musicmetric analytics tool. Apple is likely looking to make Musicmetric a part of its soon to be relaunched Beats Music streaming service.
Apple confirmed the acquisition with their usual comment of: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plan.” Semetric officials declined to comment on the report.
Documents filed earlier this month with Companies House show Semetric’s registered address as changed to 100 New Bridge Street in London – the office of law firm Baker & McKenzie, which is also the registered address of Apple Europe Limited.
In addition, senior Apple attorney Gene Levoff was appointed as a director of Semetric in October 2014, according to another filing with Companies House in January.
Musicmetric, launched in 2008, is a tool that allows music labels and other clients track data on music sales, BitTorrent downloads, and even social networking statistics.
While Apple won’t discuss their reasoning behind the Semetric grab, they likely want to tie the service into their relaunched Beats Music streaming service. Apple is reportedly planning to rebrand Beats Music – likely under its iTunes branding.
The Musicmetric dashboard could become the in-house tool for labels to track sales and streaming of their music via the revamped Beats Music streaming service, as well as social network stats, YouTube plays, and more.
While the price paid for Musicmetric is unknown, The Financial Times estimates Apple could have paid as much as $50 million for the company.
