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Apple acquires Shazam music-recognition app

By Danielle Haynes
Apple bought Shazam for $400 million, sources told Recode and TechCrunch. File Photo courtesy of Shazam
Apple bought Shazam for $400 million, sources told Recode and TechCrunch. File Photo courtesy of Shazam

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Apple said Monday it acquired Shazam, an app that lets users identify music and other types of media from brief recordings.

TechCrunch reported the sale last week and Apple confirmed the news Monday.

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"We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple," an Apple representative 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."

Sources told TechCrunch and Recode the deal was worth about $400 million.

Apple and Shazam had been in talks for five months on the deal, and other companies, including Snapchat and Spotify also considered buying the company.

The London-based Shazam was founded in 1999, and debuted its cellphone app in 2008. Users could launch the app and record a clip of a song to find out the name of the song and performer.

The service was later expanded to work on desktop computers and searched music, commercials, television shows and images.

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