Apple finished up its acquisition of Shazam in 2018. As reported by Billboard, Shazam increased its user base by over 78 million users and became profitable during 2018. The service allows users to identify songs, movies, TV shows and other media by capturing short audio segments.
According to the company’s annual report and financial statements submitted to the U.K.’s Companies House, Shazam now has 478 million active users, a 78 million rise year-over-year. Shazams profit in 2018 was $34.5 million, which was less than 2017’s $44.8 million. However, the firm boasted a profit of $158.4 million, versus $19.4 million in losses the year prior.
Since its acquisition, Apple has incorporated features of Shazam into its Apple Music service in the form of the app’s Shazam Discovery Top 50 chart, which is populated by trending tracks and artist searches using Shazam. The playlist is populated using the more than 20 million Shazam queries per day from users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the U.S. The list updates every Tuesday.
Apple reportedly paid around $401 million for Shazam in December, which was a bargain compared to the the company’s $1 billion valuation in the song search firm’s last financing round in 2015.
Shazam was founded in the United Kingdom in 1999, and was initially known as 2580, after the number users dialed to text the service.
(Via Appleinsider)